In many ways, it was a sensational year for SpaceX. The American space company will close out 2025 with a record-breaking 165 launches on its proven Falcon 9 rocket, with the final launch of the year scheduled for Saturday, December 27th.
SpaceX’s final flight in 2025 will be the second-generation COSMO-SkyMed mission for the Italian Space Agency and the Italian Ministry of Defense, launching from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
The mission is currently scheduled for 6:08 p.m. PT, but there is a replacement option for Sunday, December 28, at the same time if necessary.
A live stream of the mission will begin approximately 15 minutes before launch and can be viewed on X @SpaceX or on the SpaceX website.
This will be the 21st flight for the first stage booster, which previously launched Crew-7, CRS-29, PACE, Transporter-10, EarthCARE, NROL-186, Transporter-13, TRACERS, NROL-48 and 11 Starlink missions.
Approximately eight minutes after launch, the booster will return to Earth and land in Landing Zone 4 (LZ-4) at Vandenberg Space Force Base.
It was a record year for SpaceX launches. With the completion of 165 missions, the company will surpass its previous annual launch record set last year by 31.
Most of the 2025 missions placed batches of SpaceX’s Starlink internet satellites into orbit, while the remainder included satellite deployments for governments and organizations, as well as crew and cargo flights to the International Space Station.
SpaceX has also completed five launches of its in-development Starship rocket, with the most recent taking place in October. The massive rocket will one day be used for crew and cargo missions to the Moon and possibly Mars, although much work remains to prepare the rocket for its first operational launch.
With so many missions completed in the last 12 months, SpaceX has cemented its position as a dominant player in orbital launches, and next year is set to be even busier for the company.
