The SpaceX rocket lifted off at 8:36 p.m. from its launchpad at the California base and reached low Earth orbit about 8½ minutes later.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket placed 26 Starlink internet broadband satellites into low Earth orbit, lifting off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on June 16, 2025.

That mission, Ax-4, is Axiom's fourth crewed flight to the International Space Station (ISS). It was slated to launch atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on June 11, but a liquid oxygen leak discovered in the booster delayed things by a day. That was followed by the detection of another leak, but this time at Ax-4's orbital destination.

This year's launch cadence is outpacing last year's by 3½ weeks on Florida's Space Coast: The 50th orbital launch of 2024 did not occur until July 8.

Ax-4 is scheduled to lift off atop a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday at 8:00 a.m. EDT (1200 GMT). That's a one-day delay; SpaceX had been targeting Tuesday morning (June 10) but pushed things back due to expected high winds in the area.

Florida’s 50th launch of 2025 had been planned to be a human spaceflight, but instead it ended up being another batch of Starlink satellites.

The upcoming mission will be Axiom Space’s fourth privately funded crewed mission to the ISS. The Texas-based company also has a contract with NASA to develop habitable modules that can be attached to the space station, with a plan for the modules to become part of a free-flying, commercially funded orbital facility.

A bright light flying across the night sky Monday caught the eyes of many San Diegans. SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket around 8:30 p.m. from Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County. The rocket launch could be seen from all across San Diego County,