🚀 Falcon 9 | 🛰 Starlink 12-17
Launch date: April 13, 2025 00:53 UTC
Payload: Starlink 12-17
Location: Launch Complex-39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida
Vehicle: Falcon 9
SpaceX successfully launched the Starlink 12-17 mission on April 12, 2025, at 8:53 p.m. EDT (00:53 April 13 UTC) from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex-39A. The Falcon 9 rocket carried 21 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit, 13 of which are equipped with Direct to Cell technology, promising to eliminate mobile dead zones. The rocket’s first stage booster (B1083) landed on the droneship ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas’ in the Atlantic Ocean. This marks SpaceX’s 42nd Falcon 9 mission of 2025 and adds to its growing Starlink megaconstellation. SpaceX has partnered with T-Mobile in the US for Direct to Cell service.
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LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA
Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) is one of the most significant and iconic launch pads in spaceflight history, situated at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida. Constructed in the 1960s for the Apollo program, it was the launch site of Apollo 11—the first crewed mission to land on the Moon—and later adapted for the Space Shuttle program, supporting dozens of launches over several decades.
In 2014, NASA began leasing LC-39A to SpaceX, marking a new era for the launch site. SpaceX has extensively modified the facility to support Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches, and is further upgrading the pad for Starship missions. The site is a focal point for both crewed and uncrewed flights to the International Space Station, national security launches, and commercial missions, continuing its legacy as a cornerstone of American space exploration.