SpaceX deploys 28 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit after launch from Florida

a rocket is seen in slihouette launching to space as it appears to pass by the sun

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying 28 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit is photographed as it appears to fly by the sun from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025.
(Image credit: SpaceX)

“Deployment of 28 Starlink satellites confirmed.”

With that statement, posted to social media, SpaceX wrapped another launch in support of its broadband internet satellite megaconstellation on Sunday (Aug. 31). The 28 Starlink satellites (Group 10-14) lifted off atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

The one-hour and five-minute mission to low Earth orbit began at 7:49 a.m. EDT (1149 GMT) on Sunday.

a time lapse image shows the streak of a rocket's thrust as it climbs to space against a blue sky — A time lapse photo of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket shows the streak of its thrust as it launches from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025. (Image credit: SpaceX)

The launch marked the 23rd flight of the Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage (Booster 1077). Once again, it was successfully recovered, touching down on the drone ship “Just Read the Instructions” stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.

With this mission, the Starlink network now includes more than 8,280 active units out of the over 9,575 satellites launched since 2019, according to tracker Jonathan McDowell.

Sunday’s flight was SpaceX’s 112th mission of 2025, of which 108 were Falcon 9 launches (the other four were suborbital test flights of the company’s Starship).

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Robert Pearlman is a space historian, journalist and the founder and editor of collectSPACE.com, a daily news publication and community devoted to space history with a particular focus on how and where space exploration intersects with pop culture. Pearlman is also a contributing writer for Space.com and co-author of “Space Stations: The Art, Science, and Reality of Working in Space” published by Smithsonian Books in 2018.

In 2009, he was inducted into the U.S. Space Camp Hall of Fame in Huntsville, Alabama. In 2021, he was honored by the American Astronautical Society with the Ordway Award for Sustained Excellence in Spaceflight History. In 2023, the National Space Club Florida Committee recognized Pearlman with the Kolcum News and Communications Award for excellence in telling the space story along the Space Coast and throughout the world.