SpaceX Falcon 9 launches 29 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit from Florida

a white and black rocket lifts off into the darkness of night, its bright orange-tinted plume lighting up its launch pad.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying 29 Starlink satellites lifts off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (Image credit: SpaceX)

SpaceX launched 29 Starlink satellites from Florida early Monday morning (Dec. 14), beating the forecast for poor weather.

A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 12:25 a.m. EST (0525 GMT) from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Escaping the threat posed by high winds and cumulous clouds, the two-stage SpaceX launch vehicle reached space about 8 minutes and 40 seconds after leaving the ground.

the first stage of an orbital rocket is seen in silhouette, backlit by spotlights, as it stands upright on its landing legs atop an ocean-based droneship. — The first stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stands on the ocean-based droneship "A Shortfall of Gravitas," positioned in the Atlantic Ocean, after launching from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (Image credit: SpaceX)

Booster 1092 missions

CRS-32 | NROL-69 | GPS III-7 | USSF-36 | 4 Starlink missions

Meanwhile, the rocket's first stage completed it use, separated and used its engines to fly back to the Atlantic Ocean and the autonomous drone ship "A Shortfall of Gravitas." The landing on four deployable legs completed the booster's (B1092) ninth flight.

Monday's launch from Florida followed another successful Starlink deployment flown from California the day before. The east coast mission was SpaceX's 163rd Falcon 9 flight in 2025, with another scheduled for Tuesday (Dec. 16) from NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

Robert Pearlman is a space historian, journalist and the founder and editor of collectSPACE.com, a daily news publication and community devoted to space history with a particular focus on how and where space exploration intersects with pop culture. Pearlman is also a contributing writer for Space.com and co-author of "Space Stations: The Art, Science, and Reality of Working in Space” published by Smithsonian Books in 2018.

In 2009, he was inducted into the U.S. Space Camp Hall of Fame in Huntsville, Alabama. In 2021, he was honored by the American Astronautical Society with the Ordway Award for Sustained Excellence in Spaceflight History. In 2023, the National Space Club Florida Committee recognized Pearlman with the Kolcum News and Communications Award for excellence in telling the space story along the Space Coast and throughout the world.

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