The SpaceX rocket lifted off at 8:36 p.m. from its launchpad at the California base and reached low Earth orbit about 8½ minutes later.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket placed 26 Starlink internet broadband satellites into low Earth orbit, lifting off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on June 16, 2025.

Check back for live FLORIDA TODAY Space Team updates on this page, starting about 90 minutes before the early morning SpaceX launch window opens.

This year's launch cadence is outpacing last year's by 3½ weeks on Florida's Space Coast: The 50th orbital launch of 2024 did not occur until July 8.

That mission, Ax-4, is Axiom's fourth crewed flight to the International Space Station (ISS). It was slated to launch atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on June 11, but a liquid oxygen leak discovered in the booster delayed things by a day. That was followed by the detection of another leak, but this time at Ax-4's orbital destination.

Ax-4 is scheduled to lift off atop a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday at 8:00 a.m. EDT (1200 GMT). That's a one-day delay; SpaceX had been targeting Tuesday morning (June 10) but pushed things back due to expected high winds in the area.

Florida’s 50th launch of 2025 had been planned to be a human spaceflight, but instead it ended up being another batch of Starlink satellites.

A bright light flying across the night sky Monday caught the eyes of many San Diegans. SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket around 8:30 p.m. from Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County. The rocket launch could be seen from all across San Diego County,