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SpaceX launches 24 Starlink satellites to orbit from California

a black and white rocket launches into a dark night sky

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches 24 Starlink internet satellites to orbit from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base on Aug. 30, 2025. (Image credit: SpaceX)

SpaceX launched another batch of its Starlink broadband satellites today (Aug. 30), sending 24 of them up from California's central coast.

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Starlink craft lifted off today from Vandenberg Space Force Base at 12:59 a.m. EDT (0359 GMT; 9:59 p.m. local California time on Aug. 29).

The rocket's first stage, designated Booster 1082, came back to Earth as planned about 8.5 minutes later, touching down at sea on the SpaceX drone ship named "Of Course I Still Love You." It was the 15th launch and landing for this particular booster, according to a SpaceX mission description.

a black and white rocket rests on the deck of a drone ship at night

That number, while impressive, is far from SpaceX's reuse record of 30, which a Falcon 9 booster set this past Thursday (Aug. 28) on another Starlink mission.

If all goes to plan on today's flight, the Falcon 9's upper stage will deploy the 24 Starlink satellites in low Earth orbit 62.5 minutes after launch.

Previous Booster 1082 missions

Today's launch was the 107th Falcon 9 flight of 2025. More than 70% of those missions have been dedicated to building out the Starlink megaconstellation, by far the largest satellite assemblage ever constructed. It currently consists of more than 8,200 operational satellites, and the number continues to grow.

SpaceX has also launched four other missions so far this year — test flights of Starship, the giant, fully reusable rocket it's developing to help humanity settle the moon and Mars. The most recent of these Starship tests launched on Tuesday (Aug. 26) and was a complete success.

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Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, "Out There," was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.

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