May 7, 2025
SpaceX sends up latest Starlink launch from Cape Canaveral
by Richard Tribou
A Falcon 9 carrying 28 Starlink satellites lifted off at 9:17 p.m. from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Space Launch Complex 40.
The first-stage booster for the mission flew for the seventh time with a recovery landing downrange in the Atlantic on the droneship Just Read the Instructions.
This was the 38th orbital launch from the Space Coast so far in 2025 with all but two coming from SpaceX. The others were Blue Origin's debut New Glenn launch in January and a United Launch Alliance Atlas V that flew that company's first mission of the year last week.
The majority of SpaceX's 36 launches so far from either Kennedy Space Center or Cape Canaveral have been for its Starlink program to build out its massive constellation of internet satellites.
This batch brings the total to near 8,500 satellites launched by SpaceX since the first operational mission in 2019, although only a little more than 6,600 remain in operational orbit, according to statistics maintained by astronomer Jonathan McDowell.
ULA's first launch was the first of dozens planned for Amazon with a competing satellite constellation called Project Kuiper that looks to get 3,232 satellites in place by 2028.
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