Falcon 9 rocket launches Starlink satellites before making 550th SpaceX landing

Almost 10 years to the day since it successfully landed its first rocket stage, SpaceX today (Dec. 14) recovered its 550th Falcon 9 booster.

The touchdown came after the rocket's first stage had lofted 27 Starlink satellites into space, lifting off from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Sunday at 12:49 a.m. EST (0549 GMT or 9:49 p.m. PST local time on Dec. 13).

The Falcon 9 rocket's upper stage was on track to deploy the satellites into low Earth orbit about an hour after they left the ground.

Unlike the first Falcon 9 first stage landing in on Dec. 21, 2015, which arrived back on land, Sunday's booster (B1093) fired one of its nine Merlin engines and deployed its four landing legs to come to rest atop the autonomous drone ship "Of Course I Still Love You" stationed in the Pacific Ocean.

The flight marked the stage's ninth trip to space and back.

With the addition of the 27 satellites (Group 15-12), the Starlink megaconstellation now has over 9,300 active units out of the more than 10,000 that have been launched since 2019. The Starlink network provides broadband internet access to regions around the world, as well as enables wifi on airlines and cell-to-satellite access on select providers.

Sunday's launch was SpaceX's 162nd Falcon 9 flight in 2025, and 580th overall.