ROUTINE BUT NEVER BORING: SpaceX lofts 10,000th Starlink satellite to orbit on record-tying 132nd Falcon 9 launch of the year.

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 28 Starlink internet satellites lifted off from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base today at 3:24 p.m. EDT (1924 GMT; 12:24 p.m. local California time).

Those 28 included the 10,000th Starlink spacecraft ever to reach orbit, which a SpaceX employee noted on the company’s launch webcast: “From Tintin to 10,000! Go Starlink, go Falcon, go SpaceX!”

It was also the 132nd Falcon 9 liftoff of the year, equaling the mark set by the rocket last year — and there are still nearly 2.5 months to go in 2025.

If the company maintains this cadence, they’ll finish the year with 160 or so Falcon 9 launches, plus five Starship flight tests.