Oct. 31 (UPI) — A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carried a payload of 28 Starlink satellites into space before decoupling and returning to Earth following a successful launch on Friday afternoon.
The launch occurred at 1:41 p.m. PDT from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, and the Falcon 9 booster rocket successfully landed on the deck of the drone ship named Of Course I Still Love You in the Pacific Ocean.
The mission was the 100th Starlink launch in 2025 and was the 139th Falcon 9 mission this year, according to Space.com.
The launch also was the 29th for the Falcon 9 booster rocket with tail number B1063 and is two short of the most for any Falcon 9 booster rocket, which is 31 launches, Spaceflight Now reported.
The booster rocket is the oldest still used by SpaceX and made its first launch on Nov. 21, 2020.
The successful landing was the 162nd for the drone ship and the 527th in total for SpaceX.
Friday’s mission originally was scheduled a day earlier, but was delayed due to technical difficulties.
The Starlink mini satellites were deployed in low Earth orbit about an hour after the launch to become part of the mega-constellation of Starlink satellites that provide wireless communications anywhere in the world.
The world has more than 8,800 Starlink satellites in low Earth orbit, and SpaceX has deployed more than 2,500 of them so far in 2025.
Eight more missions are scheduled before Thanksgiving that would deploy another 228 satellites to the mega-constellation.