22.08.2025
SpaceX to launch 24 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg SFB
SpaceX is planning to launch of its latest batch of Starlink V2 Mini satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Friday.
The Starlink 17-6 mission will add another 24 satellites to the low Earth orbit constellation. With a successful completion of this mission, SpaceX will have launched more than 1,800 of its Starlink satellites in 2025 alone.
SpaceX is targeting liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East at 10:04 a.m. PDT (1:04 p.m. EDT / 1704 UTC). It will be the 27th Starlink launch from Vandenberg this year.
Spaceflight Now will have live coverage beginning about 30 minutes prior to liftoff.
SpaceX will use the Falcon 9 first stage booster, tail number B1081, to launch this mission, which will be its 17th flight. Its previous launches included NASA’s PACE, NASA’s TRACERS and Crew-7.
Nearly 8.5 minutes after liftoff, B1081 will target a landing on the droneship, ‘Of Course I Still Love You.’ If successful, this will be. The 146th booster landing on that vessel and the 491st booster landing to date.
Quelle: SN
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Update: 23:00 MESZ
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SpaceX launches 24 Starlink satellites to orbit from California
It was SpaceX's 102nd Falcon 9 launch of 2025 already.
SpaceX launched yet another batch of its Starlink internet satellites to orbit today (Aug. 22).
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 24 Starlink craft lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in coastal California today at 1:04 p.m. EDT (1704 GMT; 10:04 a.m. local time).
The rocket's first stage came back to Earth about 8.5 minutes later, touching down in the Pacific Ocean on the SpaceX drone ship "Of Course I Still Love You." It was the 17th launch and landing for this particular booster (designated B1081), according to a SpaceX mission description.
The Falcon 9's upper stage, meanwhile, continued hauling the 24 Starlink satellites toward low Earth orbit, where they will be deployed about 62.5 minutes after liftoff, if all goes to plan.
They will join more than 8,100 other currently operational craft in the Starlink constellation, the biggest satellite network ever assembled. And it's growing all the time: SpaceX has now launched 102 Falcon 9 missions in 2025, and more than 70% of them have been Starlink flights.
SpaceX has three other launches under its belt this year as well — test flights of Starship, the giant rocket that company founder and CEO Elon Musk hopes will help make Mars settlement a reality.
And SpaceX is gearing up for another Starship flight, which is scheduled to take place on Sunday (Aug. 24) at 7:30 p.m. EDT (2330 GMT). It will be the 10th launch overall for Starship, which debuted in April 2023.
Quelle: SC