Cape Canaveral, Florida – SpaceX successfully launched 29 more Starlink internet satellites into orbit on October 29, lifting off from Florida’s Space Coast.

The Falcon 9 rocket carrying the satellites lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 12:35 a.m. EDT (1635 GMT).

About 8.5 minutes later, the Falcon 9’s first stage returned to Earth with a pinpoint landing on the SpaceX drone ship Just Read the Instructions. This booster, designated 1082, was flying its 15th mission, having previously launched NASA’s Crew-8 mission and the Polaris Dawn flight featuring the first-ever private spacewalk.

The Falcon 9 upper stage continued carrying the 29 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit, where they are scheduled to deploy about 64 minutes after launch.

This liftoff marks SpaceX’s 138th orbital launch of the year, extending the company’s record from last year’s 134 missions. Of this year’s launches, 99 have been dedicated to building the Starlink megaconstellation, which now includes more than 8,700 active satellites.

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