SpaceX launched its 100th Starlink mission of the year today (Oct. 31).
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 28 of SpaceX's Starlink broadband satellites lifted off from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base today at 4:41 p.m. EDT (2041 GMT; 1:41 p.m. local California time).
Starlink, SpaceX's internet-beaming network in low Earth orbit (LEO), is by far the largest satellite constellation ever assembled. The company has lofted more than 10,000 Starlink spacecraft to date, and nearly 8,800 of them are active today.
Most of SpaceX's launches these days go toward building out Starlink even further: The company has flown 138 Falcon 9 missions so far in 2025, and 99 have been Starlink efforts.
Watch Falcon 9 launch 28 @Starlink satellites to orbit from California https://t.co/OTOiWONK7jOctober 31, 2025
Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich | DART | Transporter-7 | Iridium OneWeb | SDA-0B | NROL-113 | NROL-167 | NROL-149 | NAOS | 19 Starlink missions
The Falcon 9's first stage came back to Earth about 8.5 minutes after launch, touching down in the Pacific Ocean on the SpaceX drone ship "Of Course I Still Love You."
It was the 29th flight for this particular booster, which is designated 1063. That's close to the Falcon 9 reuse record, which currently stands at 31 flights.
Meanwhile, the Falcon 9's upper stage will continue hauling the 29 Starlink satellites to LEO, where they'll be deployed about an hour after liftoff.
