Vandenberg Space Force Station, California, USA - February 23, 2025 A fiery spectacle lit up the southern California sky on Saturday evening as SpaceX successfully launched another batch of its Starlink internet satellites. At precisely 8:38 p.m. EST, a Falcon 9 rocket roared into the night, carrying 22 spacecraft destined to expand the company’s ambitious broadband network. The launch, which took place at 5:38 p.m. local time, marked yet another milestone for SpaceX’s reusable rocket technology. Just eight minutes after liftoff, the Falcon 9’s first stage gracefully returned to Earth, landing on the drone ship "Of Course I Still Love You" stationed in the Pacific Ocean. This booster, a seasoned veteran, celebrated its 11th flight—and its 8th Starlink mission—demonstrating the reliability of SpaceX’s engineering. Meanwhile, the Falcon 9’s upper stage pressed on, ferrying the 22 Starlink satellites toward low Earth orbit. Approximately 62 minutes after launch, the spacecraft were released to join their thousands of counterparts already circling the planet. According to Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist and renowned satellite tracker, the Starlink megaconstellation now boasts over 7,000 operational satellites, making it the largest of its kind in history. Saturday’s launch underscores SpaceX’s relentless push to blanket the globe with high-speed internet, a mission that continues to redefine space exploration and connectivity.