🚀 Falcon 9 | 🛰 Starlink Group 17-1
Launch date: May 27, 2025 16:57 UTC
Payload: Starlink Group 17-1
Location: SLC-4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California
Vehicle: Falcon 9
On May 27, 2025, at 16:57 UTC, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launched 24 Starlink satellites as Group 17-1 from SLC-4E, Vandenberg SFB. This mission inaugurates a new polar shell for the Starlink constellation, placing satellites into Sun-synchronous orbit at 97-degree inclination—the first Starlink deployment to SSO (polar orbit) since Group 3. Falcon 9 booster B1082 made its 13th flight and landed on the ‘Of Course I Still Love You’ droneship. This launch continues SpaceX’s trend of booster reuse, expands the constellation’s global coverage, and marked SpaceX’s 63rd Falcon 9 flight of 2025.
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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.