May 31 (UPI) — SpaceX ended May with another successful launch of its Falcon 9 rocket Saturday afternoon at its West Coast launch facility at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
The launch occurred at 1:10 p.m. PDT with a payload of 27 Starlink satellites bound for low-Earth orbit, SpaceflightNow reported.
It was the Falcon 9’s 16th successful launch and the 25th for its first-stage booster rocket.
The booster rocket successfully landed on the “Of Course I Still Love You” drone ship in the Pacific Ocean.
The successful landing marked the 133rd successful booster rocket landing and 455th overall on the droneship.
Anne Mason, director of National Security Space Launch for SpaceX, said at least 170 more Falcon launches are planned this year.
“This demonstrates how Falcon’s reusability and reliability … have been critical to supporting assured access to space,” Mason told media before the afternoon launch.
SpaceX is producing a second-stage rocket every 2.5 days to meet the demand for the large number of planned launches.
Officials for the Elon Musk-owned space company also are looking to buy Space Launch Complex 6 at Vandenberg Space Force Base to support the ambitious launch schedule.