Overnight Canaveral launch marked 500th for SpaceX Falcon 9

Richard Tribou, Orlando Sentinel on Jul 2, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

An early Wednesday morning launch on the Space Coast marked the 500th time SpaceX has flown its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket, reusing the fleet-leading first stage booster for a record 29th time.

The latest flight with a payload of 27 Starlink satellites lifted off Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 2:28 a.m. coming just over nine hours since launch No. 499 from neighboring Kennedy Space Center, which sent up a European weather satellite.

The booster, which first flew in 2021 and had since been used on two human spaceflights among 28 previous missions, completed flight 29 landing downrange on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas.

The first Falcon 9 launched in 2010, and only two of the 500 launches have ended in complete failure.

Elon Musk’s company had its first successful orbital launch with the Falcon 1 rocket in 2008, but it only flew one more time before switching to the Falcon 9. It also has flown the Falcon Heavy, which is essentially three Falcon 9 rockets strapped together, 11 times.

The launch was the 83rd Falcon 9 mission for SpaceX in 2025 from all of its facilities in Florida and California. No Falcon Heavy has launched yet this year.

For the Space Coast, it marked the 58th orbital mission, with all by three flown by SpaceX.

------------