A Falcon 9 rocket’s well-traveled first-stage booster collected more mileage with a blastoff Tuesday night for Vandenberg Space Force Base‘s 53rd mission of the year.

The two-stage rocket built by SpaceX lifted off at 8:54 p.m. from Space Launch Complex-4 on the South Base with a loud rumble that rattled windows upon departure.

About eight minutes later, the rocket’s first-stage booster successfully landed on the droneship positioned in the Pacific Ocean.

The launch and landing marked the 29th for the first-stage booster, making it among the most flight-proven for the West Coast missions.

The mission carried another 28 Starlink satellites, which were set to deploy about one hour after liftoff.

Following Tuesday’s launch, another SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to carry the next batch of satellites for the Space Development Agency between 4:02 p.m. and 4:24 p.m. on Oct. 14. 

The West Coast manifest for SpaceX also includes two more Starlink missions, now tentatively set for Oct. 18 and Oct. 20. However, launch dates can slip based on a number of factors, including technical trouble, unfavorable weather or the team falling behind on pre-liftoff chores. 

Also, SpaceX typically has required three days between missions to ready the rocket and payload for liftoff.

Vandenberg officials have said they expect up to 70 missions for 2025, including all types of rockets and missiles, but various factors can affect the number.

While most of this year’s missions have involved SpaceX’s Falcon rocket, Vandenberg also has conducted launches of the Firefly Alpha rocket, the Minotaur rocket, a pair of unarmed Minuteman III missiles and an Army weapon test.