500th Falcon Landing: SpaceX Launches Starlink 10-57 Mission

SpaceX successfully launched the Starlink 10-57 mission on Friday, Sept. 5, deploying 28 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 1232 UTC. The Falcon 9 first stage booster(B1069) landed about 8.5 minutes after liftoff on the 'Just Read the Instructions' drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean approximately 8.5 minutes after liftoff, completing its 27th flight, and marking the 500th successful recovery of Falcon, an orbital-class rocket, a significant reusability milestone for SpaceX.

"Falcon 9 touchdown on the Just Read the Instructions droneship, completing the 500th launch and landing of an orbital class rocket," SpaceX wrote on X.

B1069 had previously flown on missions including CRS-24, Eutelsat HOTBIRD 13F, and 22 prior Starlink missions. This landing was the 135th recovery for the "Just Read the Instructions" drone ship.

The Falcon 9 upper stage deployed the 28 satellites into a north-easterly trajectory in low Earth orbit(LEO), about one hour and four minutes after launch.

Starlink 10-57 was the 111th Falcon 9 mission for SpaceX in 2025 out of a total of 529 since 2010. The company's broadband megaconstellation now numbers more than 8,370 active satellites.