About 8 minutes later, the Falcon's first stage returned to Earth, landing vertically on the ocean-based droneship "Of Course I Still Love You." This was the 25th flight for this booster, including 14 previous Starlink launches, according to SpaceX's website for Saturday's mission.

Angry-looking red thunderstorms lit up National Weather Service radar screens along the northern portion of the Cape about 1½ hours before launch.