In a milestone achievement for the Space Coast and for SpaceX’s operational tempo, a Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Florida for the 100th time in 2025, underlining just how rapidly commercial access to space has grown this year. This landmark launch took place in the early morning hours of December 15, 2025, when a Falcon 9 carrying 29 Starlink satellites departed Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The liftoff occurred at approximately 12 : 25 a.m. EST (05 : 25 UTC) and successfully delivered its payload into low-Earth orbit, continuing the rapid expansion of the Starlink broadband network.
SpaceX itself acknowledged the milestone on social media, noting that the Falcon 9 had now lifted off from Florida 100 times in 2025 — a striking indicator of the scale and frequency of modern launch operations. This count reflects launches from both of Florida’s major spaceports on the Space Coast, including not only dedicated SpaceX Starlink missions but also national-security, commercial and rideshare flights conducted throughout the year.
The 100th Florida flight continues a trend of unprecedented launch cadence for the Cape Canaveral region. Earlier in the year, the Space Coast had already shattered its previous annual record for launches, with multiple rockets from different providers lifting off from Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. SpaceX has been the primary contributor to that pace, with frequent flights supporting Starlink constellation builds, government payloads, and commercial satellites.
For this mission, the Falcon 9’s upper stage delivered a group of 29 Starlink broadband satellites into orbit, adding capacity to the constellation that now comprises thousands of satellites around Earth. Once fully operational, these spacecraft will help extend access to high-speed, low-latency internet in remote regions, among underserved communities, and in applications such as maritime, aviation, and emergency communications.
After stage separation, the first stage likely attempted another precision landing on a SpaceX autonomous drone ship in the Atlantic — a routine that has become a hallmark of the company’s reusable rocket architecture. These landings not only demonstrate technical maturity in vertical landing technology but also help reduce launch costs and sustain a high cadence of missions.
The achievement of 100 Florida launches in a single calendar year underscores how routine access to space has become. Where rocket liftoffs were once rare, multi-vehicle, multi-mission schedules now allow weekly — and sometimes daily — access to orbit. For the Space Coast, this milestone reflects the long-term evolution of Florida’s space infrastructure and its transition from legacy launch pads hosting occasional missions to a high-throughput hub enabling frequent orbital access.
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