SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket streaks into Florida’s night sky carrying Starlink satellites to orbit (video)

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SpaceX launched another batch of its Starlink internet satellites in a nighttime liftoff from Florida’s Space Coast on Tuesday (November 18).

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 29 Star link spaceship launched from Cape Canaveral Space Station Tuesday at 7:12 p.m. EST (0012 GMT November 19).

Approximately 8.5 minutes later, the rocket’s first stage landed in the Atlantic Ocean aboard the EspaceX drone ship “A Shortfall of Gravitas”. This was the 12th launch and landing of the booster, which has the designation 1085.

The rocket’s upper stage deployed all 29 Starlink satellites in low earth orbit as planned about 65 minutes after launch, SpaceX announced via.

Once operational, the new arrivals will bring the number of operational Starlink craft above 9,000. This count currently stands at 8,979, according to astrophysicist and satellite tracker Jonathan McDowell.

Previous Booster 1085 Missions

Crew-9 | RRT-1 | Firefly Blue Ghost Mission 1 | Frame2 | SXM-10 | MTG-S1 | 5 Starlink missions

So far in 2025, SpaceX has launched 148 Falcon 9 missions, 107 of which have been dedicated to building the Starlink megaconstellation.

The company also launched five suborbital test flights of its giant Spacecraft rocket this year. Starship, the largest and most powerful rocket ever built, is designed to be fully and quickly reusable.