SpaceX sends 27 Starlink satellites to orbit on 100th Falcon rocket launch of the year (photos)
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SpaceX launched another batch of its Starlink internet satellites this morning (Aug. 22) on a milestone mission for the company’s Falcon rocket family.
A Falcon 9 carrying 27 Starlink spacecraft lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California today at 3:25 a.m. EDT (0725 GMT; 12:25 a.m. local California time).
It was the 99th Falcon 9 liftoff of the year, and the 100th Falcon mission of 2026 overall. The other flight was performed by a Falcon Heavy, which lofted the telecom satellite Viasat-3 F3 in April.
Hitting the century mark at this point in the year is impressive. But SpaceX has a ways to go to equal its single-year Falcon launch record of 165, which was set in 2025. All of those were Falcon 9 missions.
The Falcon 9’s first stage came back to Earth today as planned. It touched down about 8.5 minutes after launch in the Pacific Ocean, atop the SpaceX droneship “Of Course I Still Love You.” It was the ninth flight for this particular booster, which carries the designation B1100.
The 27 Starlink satellites, meanwhile, kept traveling to low Earth orbit aboard the Falcon 9’s upper stage, deploying on schedule just under 62 minutes after launch.
Today’s launch makes the largest-ever satellite constellation even bigger: Starlink already consists of more than 11,000 operational spacecraft.
Previous Booster B1100 launches
NROL-105 | 7 Starlink missions
As you might expect, Starlink satellites are SpaceX’s most common payload; 76 of this year’s 99 Falcon 9 flights have been dedicated Starlink missions.
And the number of SpaceX satellites is expected to rise considerably in the coming years. The company has said it wants to launch 100,000 of its next-gen Starlink V3 satellites and operate a constellation of one million data centers in Earth orbit. These spacecraft will fly atop SpaceX’s Starship megarocket, which remains in development.
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