SpaceX launched yet another batch of its Starlink internet satellites to orbit on Thursday (Dec. 4), sending 28 of them up from California’s central coast.
A Falcon 9 rocket topped with 28 Starlink spacecraft lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base Thursday at 3:42 p.m. EST (2042 GMT; 12:42 p.m. local California time).
Previous Booster 1097 missions
Sentinel-6B | 2 Starlink flights
The Falcon 9’s upper stage continued carrying the 28 Starlink satellites toward low Earth orbit, where they will be deployed about an hour after liftoff, if all goes to plan.
They’ll join a megaconstellation that’s by far the largest ever assembled. SpaceX currently operates more than 9,000 Starlink satellites and has launched more than 10,000 of them over the past 6.5 years.
Today’s launch was the 156th Falcon 9 liftoff of 2025, extending SpaceX’s single-year record. More than 70% of them have been Starlink missions.
