Falcon 9 Starlink mission marks 100th launch of year from Florida’s Space Coast – Spaceflight Now
A Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to lift off from the Kennedy Space Center Thursday evening on a mission that will mark the 100th launch from the Space Coast this year.
The Starlink 6-78 mission, carrying 29 satellites for SpaceX’s Internet service, is scheduled to depart from Launch Complex 39A at 10:39 p.m. EST (03:39 UTC). Space Force meteorologists predicted near-perfect weather conditions during the four-hour launch window Thursday.
Spaceflight Now will have live coverage approximately one hour before launch.
Earlier this month, missions from the three major launch companies combined to break the record of 93 liftoffs set in 2024. SpaceX took the lion’s share of the 99 launches so far in 2025 with 92 flights of its Falcon 9 rocket. United Launch Alliance carried out five launches, four by its Atlas 5 rocket and one of its new Vulcan vehicle. Blue Origin flew its New Glenn rocket for the first time in January and for a second flight on November 13.
Through 2020, the annual launch rate from launch pads at Cape Canaveral Space Station and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center only exceeded 25 launch attempts in a year twice. SpaceX, with its partially reusable Falcon 9 rocket, is driving the dramatic increase in launch cadence, accounting for 91% of launches from Florida.
Thursday’s Starlink delivery mission will use the Falcon 9 B1080 first stage booster, which first flew in 2023 and is launching for the 23rd time. Eight minutes after launch, it will land on the “Just Read the Instructions” drone stationed in the Atlantic Ocean about 365 miles downstream, east of the Bahamas.
Deployment of the Starlink satellites will take place approximately one hour and five minutes after launch. This latest batch of Starlinks V2 Minis will join more than 9,000 satellites already in orbit.
