SpaceX successfully launched 25 more satellites for its Starlink broadband constellation from California on Thursday, sending the payload into orbit after a two-day delay that the company did not publicly explain.
Liftoff of the Starlink 17-17 mission occurred at 4:03:19 p.m. PDT (7:03:19 p.m. EDT, 23:03:19 UTC) March 26 from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base. The flight had been scheduled for March 24 but was pushed back two days for unspecified reasons, with Spaceflight Now reporting the hold was likely related to payload or vehicle checks.
The Falcon 9 launched on a southerly trajectory from Vandenberg, carrying 25 small flat-panel satellites inside its payload fairing. The booster returned to Earth about 8.5 minutes after liftoff, touching down on the drone ship Of Course I Still Love You stationed in the Pacific. The recovery marked the 186th touchdown for that vessel and the 591st booster landing in SpaceX’s history.
The Falcon 9 first stage used on this mission, B1081, completed its 23rd flight. B1081 entered service with an East Coast mission, launching the Crew-7 flight to the International Space Station in August 2023, and since then has supported a mix of cargo, science and government flights — including CRS-29, the PACE Earth-observing satellite, multiple Transporter rideshare missions (Transporter-10 and -13), EarthCARE, NROL-186, TRACERS, NROL-48 and COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation FM3 — in addition to a dozen prior Starlink deliveries.
About 63 minutes after liftoff, the Falcon 9’s second stage released the 25 Starlink satellites into their targeted orbit, continuing SpaceX’s steady cadence of constellation expansion and replenishment. The company has typically launched dozens of satellites at a time on dedicated Starlink missions and on rideshare flights, with deployments staged by the second stage once it reaches the designated orbital plane.
The flight underscores SpaceX’s operational emphasis on booster reuse: B1081’s 23 flights illustrate how the company routinely cycles the same hardware across crewed missions, science payloads and large commercial programs. The successful recovery on Of Course I Still Love You further extends the drone ship’s record as a workhorse for ocean landings.
SpaceX has not commented publicly on the cause of the two-day scrub, and the company frequently adjusts launch dates for conservative technical checks or range and weather considerations. Thursday’s launch adds another incremental tranche to Starlink’s global network, supporting the service’s goal of providing low-latency internet coverage worldwide.