By Atoyebi Nike
Twenty-eight additional Starlink satellites are now in low Earth orbit following a successful SpaceX Falcon 9 launch from Florida this morning.
The booster lifted off at 8:29 a.m. EDT (1229 GMT) from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40. Just over an hour later, SpaceX confirmed the satellites, designated as Group 10-20, had been deployed to their operational altitude.
“Deployment of 28 Starlink satellites confirmed,” the company announced on its official X account.
The rocket’s first stage, Booster 1085, completed its 10th flight and executed a precise landing on the drone ship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic Ocean. Previous missions for this booster include Crew-9, RRT-1, Firefly Blue Ghost Mission 1, Fram2, SXM-10, MTG-S1, Starlink 12-20, Starlink 6-93, and Starlink 12-24.
The launch marked SpaceX’s second Starlink deployment within 12 hours, following the delivery of 24 satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Station in California at 1:05 a.m. EDT (0505 GMT) on August 13.
With this latest mission, SpaceX’s Starlink megaconstellation now has more than 8,100 active satellites providing broadband internet service worldwide.
Today’s liftoff was the company’s 99th Falcon 9 mission of 2025 and the 517th since the rocket’s debut in 2010. It was also the 453rd reuse of a Falcon first stage and the 488th successful landing.