SpaceX just extended its single-year launch record yet again.
A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off today (Nov. 5) at 8:31 p.m. EST (0131 GMT on Nov. 6) from Space Launch Complex-40 at Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, carrying 29 of SpaceX's Starlink internet satellites toward low Earth orbit (LEO).
SpaceX has increased its launch cadence every year since 2019, when it conducted 13 orbital flights. In 2024, SpaceX launched 138 missions, 134 of them orbital and the other four Starship test flights.
Starlink has been a huge driver of the recent boom in Falcon 9 launches. More than 100 of this year's flights, for example, have been devoted to building out the Starlink megaconstellation.
Ax-4 | Crew-11 | Starlink 12-10 | NG-23
Today's liftoff was the fifth for this Falcon 9's first stage, a booster designated 1094. It previously launched three missions to the International Space Station — two of them crewed — and Starlink 12-10.
After stage separation today, B1094 performed deceleration and landing burns to safely touch down on SpaceX's "Just Read the Instructions" droneship in the Atlantic Ocean about 8.5 minutes after liftoff.
The Falcon 9's upper stage, meanwhile, continued carrying the 29 Starlink satellites toward LEO, where were deployed on schedule about an hour into flight. They're joining more than 8,800 other spacecraft in the Starlink megaconstellation, which provides wireless internet service to customers across the globe.
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