United States - May 20, 2025 A new chapter in spaceflight opened Tuesday night as SpaceX launched 23 Starlink satellites aboard a brand-new Falcon 9 rocket. Liftoff from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station took place at 11:19 p.m. EDT on May 20. The launch came a day after a last-minute abort on Monday, which SpaceX did not immediately explain. Tuesday’s mission marked the first flight of this Falcon 9’s first stage, a rare event for the company known for reusing rockets. About eight minutes after liftoff, the booster successfully landed for the first time on the SpaceX drone ship "Just Read the Instructions" stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. The Falcon 9’s upper stage continued its journey, deploying all 23 Starlink broadband satellites into low Earth orbit about 65 minutes after launch as planned. This flight was the 60th Falcon 9 mission in 2025 and the 43rd Starlink launch of the year. Starlink now operates about 7,500 satellites, making it the largest satellite megaconstellation ever built—and it continues to grow.