🚀 Falcon 9 | 🛰 Starlink Group 11-18
Launch date: May 31, 2025 20:10 UTC
Payload: Starlink Group 11-18
Location: SLC-4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California
Vehicle: Falcon 9
On May 31, 2025, at 1:10 p.m. PT (20:10 UTC), SpaceX successfully launched 27 Starlink V2 Mini satellites for Group 11-18 from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, despite foggy weather. The booster B1071 flew for its 25th mission, landing on the droneship ‘Of Course I Still Love You’ in the Pacific Ocean, marking the 133rd landing on that vessel. This was SpaceX’s 500th overall flight and the 16th Falcon 9 launch of May 2025, tying the company’s monthly launch record. The 27 satellites, launched on a southern trajectory into a 53° inclination orbit, further expand the Starlink constellation, now comprising over 7,600 active satellites, supporting SpaceX’s mission to provide global broadband internet coverage.
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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.