The records keep rolling in for SpaceX.<\/p>\n
One of the company’s Falcon 9<\/a> rockets lifted off from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base<\/a> today (Oct. 25) at 10:20 a.m. EDT (1420 GMT; 7:20 a.m. local time), carrying 28 Starlink<\/a> internet satellites toward low Earth orbit<\/a> (LEO).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It was the 135th orbital launch of the year for SpaceX<\/a>, breaking a mark the company set in 2024.<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n All of SpaceX’s orbital flights this year have been performed by Falcon 9s, which have now launched as many missions in the past 11 months as NASA’s space shuttle<\/a> flew in its 30-year history.<\/p>\n SpaceX has also launched five suborbital test flights of its Starship<\/a> megarocket so far this year. In 2024, the company launched 132 Falcon 9 missions, two flights of the more powerful Falcon Heavy<\/a>, and four Starship suborbital tests.<\/p>\n Previous Booster 1081 missions<\/p>\n On today’s flight, the Falcon 9 came back to Earth as planned, landing in the Pacific Ocean on the drone ship “Of Course I Still Love You” about 8.5 minutes after liftoff. It was the 19th launch and touchdown for this particular booster, which is designated 1081.<\/p>\n The Falcon 9’s upper stage, meanwhile, continued carrying the 28 Starlink satellites toward LEO, where they will be deployed about an hour after liftoff.<\/p>\n SpaceX has notched a number of important milestones in the past week or so. For example, one recent mission launched the 10,000th Starlink satellite to orbit<\/a>, and another was the record-breaking 31st flight<\/a> of the Falcon 9 booster known as 1067.<\/p>\n