SpaceX launches Starlink satellites in 100th Falcon 9 launch of 2025
by Ian Stark
Washington DC (UPI) Aug 18, 2025
The SpaceX spacecraft company successfully launched two dozen satellites into low-Earth orbit Monday on its latest Falcon 9 mission of the year.

The SpaceX rocket took off from Space Launch Complex 4 East, or SLC-4E, at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 12:27 p.m. EDT.

The Falcon 9's payload consisted of 24 Starlink V2 Mini satellites, which provide high-speed internet.

It was the ninth flight for the first stage booster used in the mission, which has previously supported four different Starlink placement missions, in addition to other low-Earth orbit tasks.

After the rocket stages separated, its first stage returned to Earth and landed on the Of Course I Still Love You droneship, positioned in the Pacific Ocean, marking the 145th booster landing on the droneship and the 489th booster landing overall.

The second stage will be eliminated in a deorbit burn over the Pacific Ocean, east of New Zealand.

Monday's mission is the 72nd SpaceX launch of Starlink satellites thus far this year, bringing the total number of Starlink satellites orbited in 2025 to 1,786.

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