SpaceX launches 28 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg SFB

Update Dec. 4, 5:30 p.m. EST (2230 UTC): SpaceX confirms deployment of the Starlink satellites.

SpaceX completed a lunchtime launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base Thursday afternoon.

The Starlink 11-25 mission launched aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4 East, delivering 28 more broadband internet satellites into low Earth orbit. This was the fourth launch this month supporting the Starlink satellite constellation and the 114th such launch this year.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from the California coastline at 12:42 p.m. PST (3:42 p.m. EST / 2042 UTC). The rocket flew on a south-easterly trajectory upon departure from the launch pad.

SpaceX launched the mission using its Falcon 9 booster with the tail number 1097. This was its fourth flight following the launches of the Sentinel-6B, Starlink 11-39 and Starlink 17-8.

Nearly 8.5 minutes after liftoff, B1097 landed on the drone ship, ‘Of Course I Still Love You,’ marking the 167th touchdown on this vessel and the 544th booster landing for SpaceX to date.

Prior to the launch of the Starlink 11-25 mission, SpaceX launched 2,915 Starlink satellites across 113 missions in 2025. At least three more such missions are planned between Dec. 7 and Dec. 10.

In the midst of these Starlink flights, SpaceX is also slated to launch the NROL-77 mission for the National Reconnaissance Office. This is a classified payload set to launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Dec. 9.