Vandenberg Space Force Base, California – SpaceX sent a batch of 27 Starlink V2 Mini satellites into low Earth orbit on a Falcon 9 rocket launch Wednesday afternoon. The flight tied the record for the most number of these satellites launched from Vandenberg to date.

The Starlink 11-7 mission lifted off from Space Launch Complex 4 East at 3:11 p.m. PDT (6:11 p.m. EDT, 2211 UTC). This marked the 11th orbital launch from VSFB this year.

The Falcon 9 first stage booster, B1063, launched for its 24th time. It is the second most flown booster in SpaceX’s fleet, behind B1067, which has flown 26 times.

B1063 previously supported three National Reconnaissance Office missions, NASA’s DART spacecraft, and 15 other Starlink missions. It landed on the droneship ‘Of Course I Still Love You’ eight minutes after liftoff.

SpaceX aims to certify its boosters and payload fairings for up to 40 flights each.

The 27 satellites on Starlink 11-7 may include the Starlink V2 Mini Optimized models. A 2024 report noted these have a Doppio Dualband antenna, upgraded systems, and are optimized for Falcon 9 to carry up to 29 satellites per launch.

The Starlink 11-8 mission in January might have been the first to carry these optimized satellites. It was the first time SpaceX launched 27 Starlink V2 Mini satellites from either coast.

Starlink 11-7 was only the second Falcon 9 launch with 27 of these satellites. Both took off from Vandenberg.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download