SpaceX launches 100th Starlink flight of 2025

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket soars away from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at the beginning of the Starlink 11-23 mission on Oct. 31, 2025. Image: SpaceX

Update Oct. 31, 6:30 p.m. EDT (2230 UTC): SpaceX deployed the 28 Starlink satellites.

SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Halloween afternoon marking its 100th Starlink mission of the year. This was also its 15th orbital launch during the month of October.

The Starlink 11-23 mission added another 28 Starlink V2 Mini satellites into the low Earth orbit megaconstellation. According to stats maintained by expert orbital tracker and astronomer, Jonathan McDowell, there are more than 8,800 Starlink satellites currently in orbit.

Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East occurred at 1:41 p.m. PDT (4:41 p.m. EDT / 2041 UTC). The rocket flew on a south-easterly trajectory upon departure from the California coastline.



The company used its oldest Falcon 9 booster that’s still in service to launch the Starlink 11-23 mission. B1063 first launched on Nov. 21, 2020, on the Sentinel-6A mission and has flown a total of 28 times prior to Friday’s launch.

About 8.5 minutes after liftoff, B1063 performed an autonomous landing on the drone ship ‘Of Course I Still Love You’. This was the 162nd landing on this vessel and the 527th booster landing to date.

SpaceX launched more than 2,500 of its Starlink satellites so far in 2025. The company recently updated its public launch schedule to note that it plans to launch at least eight Starlink missions before Thanksgiving, which will add another 228 broadband satellites to the constellation.