🚀 Falcon 9 | 🛰 Starlink Group 11-16
Launch date: May 23, 2025 22:32 UTC
Payload: Starlink Group 11-16
Location: SLC-4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California
Vehicle: Falcon 9
On May 23, 2025, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying 27 Starlink v2 Mini satellites for the Starlink Group 11-16 mission from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. Liftoff occurred at 22:32 UTC (4:32 p.m. local). Booster B1075 completed its 18th flight and landed on the droneship ‘Of Course I Still Love You’ in the Pacific Ocean, marking SpaceX’s 450th overall Falcon booster landing. The Starlink satellites were successfully released into low Earth orbit about an hour after liftoff, further growing SpaceX’s Starlink broadband constellation, which now numbers over 8,700 satellites in orbit. The launch was part of a busy weekend for SpaceX, with B1075 supporting its own record and live coverage available via SpaceX’s X (formerly Twitter).
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SLC-4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, USA
Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) is part of the larger Space Launch Complex 4 at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. Originally built as Launch Complex 75-1-2 and used by the U.S. Air Force for Atlas-Agena and Titan rockets in the 1960s and 1970s, it was later refurbished by SpaceX beginning in 2011. SpaceX rebuilt the facility to support Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches aimed at sun-synchronous and polar orbits—trajectories best served from Vandenberg.
The first Falcon 9 launch from SLC-4E took place in September 2013. Since then, it has become SpaceX’s primary West Coast launch site, supporting both government and commercial payloads, including earth observation and reconnaissance satellites. In addition to supporting reusable launch vehicle operations, SLC-4E also hosts infrastructure for rocket landing and recovery, helping to advance SpaceX’s reusability efforts.