SpaceX Launches 23 Satellites on Falcon 9, Lands Booster for 620th Time
Updated
Updated · Spaceflight Now · Jun 6
SpaceX Launches 23 Satellites on Falcon 9, Lands Booster for 620th Time
3 articles · Updated · Spaceflight Now · Jun 6
Summary
SpaceX sent 21 Starlink and two Starshield satellites into orbit from Vandenberg Space Force Base at 9:24:45 p.m. PDT on June 6 on its Starlink 17-43 mission.
B1097 completed its 10th flight and landed on drone ship Of Course I Still Love You a little more than eight minutes after liftoff, marking the vessel’s 201st recovery and SpaceX’s 620th booster landing.
The two Starshield spacecraft were not tied publicly to any specific customer; SpaceX said only that Starshield is a government-focused variant of the Starlink architecture.
The launch fits a recent pattern: two 2025 missions also reportedly carried two Starshield satellites each, while 13 launches linked to the NRO’s proliferated architecture are widely believed to use Starshield hardware.