SpaceX launched yet another batch of its Starlink broadband satellites to orbit today (Sept. 19).
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 27 Starlink craft lifted off from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base today at 9:47 p.m. EDT (6:47 p.m. local time; 0147 GMT on Sept. 20).
The rocket’s first stage returned to Earth about 8.5 minutes later, touching down in the Pacific Ocean atop the SpaceX drone ship “Of Course I Still Love You.” It was the 17th flight for this particular booster, which is designated 1093.
The upper stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, before it deployed its payload of 27 Starlink satellites into orbit on Sept. 19, 2026. (Image credit: SpaceX)
The Falcon 9’s upper stage hauled the 27 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit, deploying them as planned about 62 minutes after launch.
There were already a lot of them up there: The ever-growing Starlink megaconstellation currently consists of more than 11,100 active spacecraft, according to astrophysicist and satellite tracker Jonathan McDowell.
You may like
Previous Booster 1093 launches
Saturday’s launch was the 107th Falcon 9 mission of 2026, and the 81st of the year dedicated to building out the Starlink network.
Those numbers are impressive, but they don’t quite match SpaceX’s record-breaking 2025 cadence: Last year, the Falcon 9 flew 165 times, and 122 of those were Starlink missions. (If SpaceX maintains its current rates this year, 2026 will see a total of 149 Falcon 9 launches, 113 of which are Starlink flights.)
