A SpaceX Falcon 9 first stage booster, tail number 1093, landed on the drone ship, ‘Of Course I Still Love You,’ amid the Starlink 15-12 mission. This was the 550th successful landing of a Falcon booster. Image: SpaceX via livestream

SpaceX completes 550th booster landing amid Saturday night Falcon 9 flight

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SpaceX completed its 550th successful booster landing as part of a late night launch from Vandenberg Space Force Station on Saturday.

The Starlink 15-12 mission added another 27 Starlink V2 Mini satellites to SpaceX’s growing megaconstellation of broadband internet satellites in low Earth orbit.

Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East happened Dec. 13, at 9:49 p.m. PST (12:49 a.m. EST / 0549 UTC on Sunday, Dec. 14). The rocket flew on a south-easterly trajectory upon leaving the pad.

SpaceX launched the Starlink 15-12 mission using the Falcon 9 first stage booster with the tail number 1093. This was its ninth flight after flying two missions for the Space Development Agency as well as six prior Starlink missions.

About 8.5 minutes after liftoff, B1093 completed an autonomous landing on the drone ship, ‘Of Course I Still Love You,’ positioned in the Pacific Ocean. This was the 170th landing on this vessel and the 451st landing on a drone ship for SpaceX.