Tonight's launch was SpaceX's 54th Falcon 9 mission of 2025 and 56th liftoff so far this year. The other two missions involved Starship, SpaceX's next-generation super-heavy-lift rocket. The company is gearing up for another Starship test flight — the vehicle's ninth overall — in the coming weeks.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Florida's Space Coast on Tuesday night (May 6), carrying 28 Starlink broadband satellites into low Earth orbit.

Following stage separation, the rocket's first-stage booster landed on the SpaceX drone ship Just Read the Instructions out in the Atlantic Ocean.