SpaceX launches 28 Starlink satellites to orbit from Florida's Space Coast (photos)

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SpaceX sent another big batch of its Starlink internet satellites to orbit from Florida on Saturday night (April 5).

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 28 Starlink craft lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Saturday at 11:07 p.m. EDT (0307 GMT on Sunday, April 6).

About eight minutes after launch, the rocket's first stage came back to Earth for a landing on the SpaceX drone ship "Just Read the Instructions," which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. It was the 19th launch and landing for this particular booster, according to a company mission description.

The Falcon 9's upper stage deployed the Starlink satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO) about an hour after liftoff as planned, SpaceX announced via X.

Related: Starlink satellite train: how to see and track it in the night sky

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Saturday night's launch was the 39th Falcon 9 mission of 2025. Two-thirds of those flights have been devoted to building out the Starlink megaconstellation, by far the largest satellite network assembled.

SpaceX currently operates more than 7,100 Starlink satellites, according to astrophysicist and satellite tracker Jonathan McDowell, and the number is growing all the time.