Replace Sept. 1 a.m. EDT: SpaceX confirms deployment of its Starlink satellites.
SpaceX accomplished its first Falcon 9 launch of the month, which carried one other batch of 24 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit. The Tuesday night time launch from Vandenberg House Pressure Base featured the flight of a brand new Falcon 9 rocket booster.
The mission, dubbed Starlink 17-8, adde to the greater than 1,900 of its satellites to this point in 2025 with greater than 1,600 supporting broadband web and almost 300 being direct-to-cell satellites.
The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from House Launch Advanced 4 East at 8:51 p.m. PDT (11:51 p.m. EDT / 0351 UTC). The rocket flew on a southerly trajectory to ship the satellites on their option to a polar orbit.
SpaceX debuted its Falcon 9 rocket booster, probably B1097, on this mission. Almost 8.5 minutes after liftoff, it landed on the drone ship, ‘Of Course I Nonetheless Love You.’
This was the 148th touchdown on OCISLY and the 498th booster touchdown to this point.
Refresh earlier than reuse
SpaceX’s enterprise mannequin for each reaching a fast launch cadence and having the ability to decrease the price for entry to area hinges on the reusability of key rocket elements. It’s presently working in direction of certifying its first stage boosters and payload fairings for as much as 40 flights for every.
Whereas it has achieved 30 flights with a single booster in addition to with its fairings, it does must deliver new entrants into the fold sometimes. Up to now in 2025, SpaceX added six new boosters to its lineup: B1091 – B1096.
Traditionally, SpaceX debuts a Falcon booster on a mission for a authorities buyer, like NASA or the U.S. House Pressure, however this 12 months 4 of its new Falcon booster made their inaugural flight in help of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite tv for pc constellation.
🚀 Keynote Highlight: Kiko Dontchev 🚀
Ultimately week’s House Coast Symposium & Expo, we have been honored to welcome Kiko Dontchev, Vice President of Launch at SpaceX, as a keynote speaker. pic.twitter.com/yT5HTV6Xdw
— Better Palm Bay Chamber of Commerce (@palmbayccomm) August 26, 2025
Throughout a current look on the Better Palm Bay Camber of Commerce’s seventh House Coast Symposium and Expo, Kiko Dontchev, SpaceX’s vp of Launch mentioned that SpaceX remains to be on observe to realize 170 launches. He mentioned that aim is simply possible due to their mannequin of reusability.
“That’s the step perform and the sport changer that has occurred that has allowed an organization like SpaceX to realize that launch fee,” Dontchev mentioned.
“Reusability has fueled the expansion for human spaceflight, for business launch and for presidency launch. And it’s additionally made a extra dependable system,” Dontchev added. “Falcon 9, given this fee, has turn out to be probably the most dependable rocket within the historical past of the world.”
Tuesday night time’s launch will likely be SpaceX’s 526th Falcon 9 launch to this point and its 109th of the 12 months. It’s anticipated to be adopted Wednesday morning with one other Falcon 9 flight, this time from Cape Canaveral House Pressure Station.
