SpaceX launches 23 Starlink satellites on 11th Falcon 9 rocket of 2025

Space.com ^ | January 24, 2025 | Mike Wall

[ProtectOurFreedom]

SpaceX launched another batch of its Starlink internet satellites from California's central coast today (Jan. 24, 2025).

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 23 Starlink craft lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base today, at 9:07 a.m. EST (1407 GMT; 6:07 a.m. local time).

The Falcon 9's first stage booster returned to Earth about eight minutes after liftoff, touching down in the Pacific Ocean on the drone ship "Of Course I Still Love You" to mark SpaceX's 401st successful recovery of an orbital-class booster.

Today's flight was the 23rd launch and landing for this particular booster, according to a SpaceX mission description. Fourteen of its 22 flights to date have been Starlink missions.

The Falcon 9's upper stage, meanwhile, will carry the 23 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit, deploying them there about 64 minutes after liftoff. Today's launch marked the 11th Falcon 9 mission of 2025 and seventh Starlink mission of the year.

Today's launch gif:

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Our son was heading to work this morning about 6:10 am and saw the rocket plume over the Pacific! We are 200 miles north of Vandenburg AFB in the Silicon Valley area. He came in and said "Dad, take a look at this cloud!" I told him that was a rocket launch from Vandenburg. He checked and, sure enough, it was SpaceX.

We just missed seeing the actual launch by a couple minutes.

We've lived here since 1983 and that might be the second launch from Vandenburg I've seen.

SpaceX's performance is astounding:
438 completed missions.
400 total landings.
370 total reflights.

[Openurmind]

Starlink = Stargate.

[1Old Pro]

Makes sense that we have satellite communications at the retail level - no need to cable lines, fios lines, telephone lines....

[1Old Pro]

oh, and cell towers...

[waterhill]

Still getting used to seeing them when eyeballing the night sky (Northern LA).

[PGalt]

Thanks for posting.

[ComputerGuy]

I just looked at a coverage map. Does anyone know why San Diego would not be covered?

[fuzzylogic]

Making high speed internet available to everyone. Amazing.

That said, he’ll have a monopoly on satellite internet...could be headed for being declared a ‘public utility’.

I suppose, when it comes to free speech, who do you trust more? Government or a private company? Even if you trust Elon, what about his successor?

Permanent free speech would be a revolution for the planet.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

It isn't obvious, but you have to hover over the map for more info. San Diego is sold out as are other parts of California, Texas, and the Pacific Northwest. They don't have enough capacity.

Starlink is no longer as widely available as once thought. The satellite internet giant has had to reintroduce waiting lists for customers in certain regions because the network’s capacity cannot keep up with demand.

“Starlink is at capacity in your area. Order now to reserve your Starlink. You will receive a notification once your Starlink is ready to ship,” according to the website’s store.

There is no timeline or estimated date for when it will ship, but customers who put down a deposit for the waitlist will receive a notification of estimated arrival. This only applies when ordering a kit for residential service and doesn’t affect its Roam service. This also doesn’t bar anyone from purchasing a Starlink kit from a third-party retailer like Best Buy or Home Depot and activating it for residential service.

Starlink previously instituted a $100 congestion charge in certain regions with high demand and low capacity. Now, Starlink is completely pausing the sale of kits in locations with too many users and insufficient bandwidth to go around. Starlink has insisted that the total provider's capacity will increase as its satellite constellation is built out. SpaceX has launched over 7,000 low earth orbit satellites and plans to have at least 30,000 within the next few years. It must also replace older satellites that expire and burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere after about five years.

[Signalman]

It’s getting awfully crowded up there.

[Red Badger]

NASA couldn’t launch nine rockets in a year, much less 24 days...............

[Red Badger]

No football team.....................

[bgill]

Did Elon ever get those astronauts back for NASA?

[ComputerGuy]

Thanks

[ComputerGuy]

I remember Lance Alworth, John Hadl et al. The Padres by themselves aren’t enough.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Nope, they are still up there circling the earth. I hope they are holding up mentally.