The launch takes place on a milestone date, marking 20 years since the STS-114 space shuttle mission took off from Kennedy Space Center Pad 39B. The launch of Discovery on the STS-114 mission on July 26, 2005, marked the return to flight for the space shuttle after the Columbia tragedy investigation.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 11:37 p.m. EDT (0337 GMT on July 30) rom Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. After a nine minute climb into space, the 28 Starlink broadband internet satellites ( group 10-29) were on track to be deployed into their intended orbit.