SpaceX launches record-breaking 133rd Falcon 9 mission of the year (video)

SpaceX broke its own record for the number of rocket launches in a year and shows no signs of slowing down.

A Falcon 9 rocket topped by 28 SpaceX rockets Star link Internet satellites took off from California Vandenberg Space Base today (October 22) at 10:16 a.m. EDT (2:16 p.m. GMT; 7:16 a.m. California local time). This was the 133rd flight of the Falcon 9 in 2025, reaching a new milestone fixed by the rocket last year.

The satellites will add to SpaceX’s growing megaconstellation in low earth orbit (LEO), which provides wireless Internet services to Starlink customers around the world.

Today’s launch will be the 138th overall in 2025 for EspaceXmatching the record set by the company in 2024.

Last year, SpaceX launched 132 Falcon 9 flights, two of the most powerful missions Heavy Falcon and four suborbital tests of its Spacecraft megarocket. The Falcon Heavy has not yet flown in 2025; SpaceX’s five other missions this year have been Starship test flights.

The Falcon 9 first stage returned to Earth approximately 8.5 minutes after takeoff, landing in the Pacific Ocean aboard the drone “Of Course, I Still Love You.”

This was the 21st launch and landing of this particular booster, designated B1075. The rocket’s upper stage, meanwhile, will continue to carry the Starlink satellites to LEO, where they will be deployed an hour after launch.

Today’s launch will be the latest in a series of milestones recently achieved by SpaceX. For example, the company launched two Falcon 9 missions on Sunday (October 19); we sent the 10,000th Starlink satellite to LEO, and the other was the 31st record flight for the first stage of this Falcon 9 in particular.