SpaceX has officially shattered its own annual record for rocket launches, demonstrating a relentless operational tempo with no indication of slowing down its ambitious flight schedule.
SpaceX achieved a significant milestone today, October 22, with the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket carrying 28 Starlink internet satellites from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base.
The powerful booster lifted off at 10:16 a.m. EDT (7:16 a.m. local California time). This mission marked the 133rd Falcon 9 flight of 2025, officially breaking the annual launch record previously set by the rocket last year.
The newly deployed satellites will further expand SpaceX’s rapidly growing Starlink megaconstellation in low Earth orbit (LEO). This extensive orbital network provides crucial wireless internet services to Starlink customers worldwide.
Today’s SpaceX launch marks a pivotal moment, as it represents the company’s 138th mission of 2025. This achievement remarkably ties the annual launch record SpaceX itself established just last year, in 2024.
In the previous year, SpaceX maintained an extraordinary launch cadence, conducting 132 flights of its reliable Falcon 9 rocket. The company also deployed its more powerful Falcon Heavy for two missions and performed four suborbital test flights of its revolutionary Starship megarocket. However, the operational landscape has shifted in 2025; the Falcon Heavy has yet to launch, with all five of SpaceX’s missions this year exclusively dedicated to the ongoing test campaign for its Starship system.
Approximately 8.5 minutes after its ascent, the Falcon 9 rocket’s reusable first stage successfully executed a pinpoint landing in the Pacific Ocean. The booster settled safely aboard the autonomous drone ship, aptly named “Of Course I Still Love You.”
The B1075 booster was poised for a significant achievement: its 21st launch and subsequent precision landing. Meanwhile, the mission’s upper stage would continue its ascent, deploying the Starlink satellites into Low Earth Orbit approximately one hour after liftoff.
Today’s scheduled launch further solidifies SpaceX’s remarkable streak of recent accomplishments. Just this past Sunday, October 19th, the company executed a doubleheader of Falcon 9 missions. One successfully deployed the 10,000th Starlink internet satellite into low Earth orbit (LEO). Meanwhile, the other launch underscored SpaceX’s unparalleled commitment to reusability, as a single Falcon 9 first stage completed an unprecedented 31st flight, marking a new operational record for booster reuse.
