Follow Us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter SpaceX launched its new batch of Starlink broadband internet satellites today (October 23) from the coast of California. The spacecraft, Starlink Group 15-15, was stacked 27 high inside the payload fairing of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which lifted off from pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base at 6:48 p.m. EDT (2248 GMT; 3:48 p.m. local time in California). The rocket’s first stage booster, designated B1063, executed main engine cut-off and stage separation approximately 2.5 minutes into the flight, sending the second stage continuing toward low Earth orbit (LEO). The vehicle’s two-piece payload protective fairing was jettisoned just before T+3 minutes. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches 27 Starlink satellites from California on October 23, 2026. (Image credit: SpaceX) Meanwhile, the booster was reoriented for its descent back to Earth. As the mission clock passed 8 minutes, B1063 began its landing and landed about 20 seconds later on the SpaceX spacecraft “Of Course I Still Love You.” This was the 36th launch and landing of B1063, notably launching NASA’s DART mission to destroy asteroids in November 2021. The Falcon 9 upper stage completed its first engine burn shortly after B1063 landed and will coast for about 45 minutes before initiating a second and final orbital insertion burn. Following the execution of that burn, deployment of the vehicle’s 27 satellites into LEO is scheduled to begin 62 minutes after launch. You might like the first stage of the Falcon 9, shortly after its unmanned spacecraft lands on October 23, 2026. (Image credit: SpaceX) Previous Booster B1063 launches Today’s Starlink liftoff adds to SpaceX’s growing constellation of more than 11,000 active spacecraft. But Starlinks are not launching as frequently as before, as SpaceX shifts its focus from the Falcon 9 to its larger, more powerful Starship rocket. Starship is designed for full reusability and is equipped with a payload bay equipped to accommodate SpaceX’s upgraded Starlink version 3 satellites, which are too large for the workhorse Falcon 9. Starship is still in development, but once the rocket begins flying operationally (and that day is near), SpaceX plans to phase out the Falcon. 9 and its Falcon Heavy variant almost in its entirety. The 100th Falcon 9 launch in 2026 was Starlink Group 10-49 from the SpaceX pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, which was later revealed to be the last Falcon 9 Starlink mission that would fly from Florida’s Space Coast. The same could soon apply to Starlink launches from the West Coast as well. The reduction in missions launching from Florida has significantly slowed the Falcon 9’s Starlink launch cadence. At its peak, these missions flew every two to three days. But the most recent one before today took off 11 days ago, and that launch itself was the first Starlink mission in more than three weeks. Today’s launch was the 116th Falcon 9 flight so far in 2026, and about three-quarters of them were dedicated to Starlink. The reduced cadence will likely cement 2025 as the Falcon 9’s busiest year, with 165 launches completed. At the current rate, the Falcon 9 is expected to fly just under 150 missions by the end of this year.
