The rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Monday at 8:35 a.m. EDT, in the 97th Falcon 9 launch of the year. It was the third attempt for this particular mission, as the first two attempts over the weekend were scrubbed due to weather conditions.
The launch brought 24 Kuiper Internet satellites into low Earth orbit, joining those previously sent into space and brings the total to 102. The Kuiper constellation is planned to ultimately hold over 3,200 spacecraft and will require more than 80 future launch missions to achieve that sum.
The Falcon 9's first stage returned to Earth about nine minutes after liftoff and touched down in the Atlantic Ocean on the SpaceX drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas, marking the 120th booster landing on the ship. Unlike many SpaceX missions, the booster used Monday made its first-ever flight, as SpaceX generally reuses its rockets.
"Another 24 Kuiper satellites have been deployed into low Earth orbit," the Kuiper Project posted to its X page Monday.
The other three SpaceX missions of 2025 were suborbital test flights of the reusable Starship vehicle intended to help with the eventual settlement of Mars.
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