SpaceX launches 3 telecom satellites to orbit on 700th Falcon mission of all time (video)

SpaceX lofted three telecom satellites to orbit today (Sept.

13) on a milestone mission for the company.

A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station today at 2:49 p.m.

EDT (1849 GMT), carrying the final three satellites for Luxembourg-based SES' O3b mPOWER constellation.

It was the 700th mission to date for SpaceX's Falcon rocket family, according to the company .

That family first spread its wings in March 2006 when the Falcon 1 debuted.

The Falcon 1 flew a total of five times, twice successfully, before giving way to the workhorse Falcon 9 in 2010.

The Falcon 9 has conducted the vast majority of the family's flights; the only other member, the still-active Falcon Heavy, has launched 13 times to date.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches three O3b mPOWER satellites for the telecom company SES from Florida on Sept.

13, 2026. (Image credit: SpaceX) The Falcon 9's first stage came back to Earth a little less than nine minutes after launch today, landing in the Atlantic Ocean on the SpaceX drone ship "A Shortfall of Gravitas." It was the 29th flight for this particular booster, which is designated B1080.

The rocket's upper stage, meanwhile, continued hauling the O3b mPOWER trio to medium Earth orbit (MEO).

The satellites were deployed as scheduled, being released at an altitude of 5,000 miles (8,000 kilometers) over a 14-minute span starting roughly 33.5 minutes after launch.

SES already operates 10 O3b mPOWER satellites in MEO.

The spacecraft that went up today will complete the constellation, which is "purpose-built to deliver predictable low latency, exceptional throughput and unprecedented flexibility for industries where uptime isn’t optional," according to the company .