SpaceX closed out October with the 700th launch of its Falcon 9 rocket, a Starlink mission that lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Friday night. The flight carried 27 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit and marked the company’s 11th and final orbital launch of the month.
Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East happened at 9:04 p.m. Pacific time on October 30, according to Spaceflight Now. The rocket flew on a southeasterly trajectory, and the 27 V2 Mini Optimized satellites joined SpaceX’s broadband constellation in low Earth orbit.
The mission flew on first stage booster B1093, which was making its 18th flight. About eight and a half minutes after liftoff, the booster landed on the droneship Of Course I Still Love You in the Pacific Ocean. Spaceflight Now reports it was the 231st landing on that vessel and the 675th Falcon booster landing to date.
The milestone underlines how routine Falcon 9 flights have become since the rocket first flew in June 2010. Spaceflight Now notes the company is starting to wind down the Falcon programme as it shifts focus to Starship, and that its launch rate has eased from a peak of 171 orbital launches in a rolling 365-day period in December 2025.
Source: Spaceflight Now
