![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AVBjkm9U3rRfPBU8ZpucgF-1280-80.jpg\")
A split-screen view of a rocket launch and a first stage landing, both at night.<\/p>\n A split-screen view of a rocket launch and a first stage landing, both at night.<\/p>\n
SpaceX launched two more batches of Starlink satellites on Saturday (Feb. 21), and in the process set a new rocket reuse record.<\/p>\n
First up at 4:04 a.m. EST (0904 GMT or 1:04 a.m. PST local time), a Falcon 9 lifted off from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) from Vandenberg Space Force Base<\/a> in California. Twenty-five (25) Starlink satellites (Group 17-25<\/a>) were lofted part of the way into space by a booster (B1063) making its 31st flight.<\/p>\n Then, at 10:47 p.m. EST on Saturday (0347 GMT on Feb. 22), another Falcon 9 took flight from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station<\/a> in Florida. That booster (B1067) carried 28 satellites (Starlink Group 6-104<\/a>) on its record-setting 33rd trip to space and back.<\/p>\n Previous Booster 1063 missions<\/p>\n Previous Booster 1067 missions<\/p>\n Both launches successfully reached orbit. The second mission was on track to deploy its satellites when this article went to print.<\/p>\n The California flight included a first stage landing on the droneship “Of Course I Still Love You<\/a>” positioned in the Pacific Ocean. The first stage launched from Florida touched down on “A Shortfall of Gravitas” in the Atlantic Ocean.<\/p>\n The 53 new Starlink satellites added to SpaceX<\/a>‘s megaconstellation of more than 9700<\/a> active broadband internet relay units. The dual missions marked the 21st and 22nd Falcon 9<\/a> launches of the year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A split-screen view of a rocket launch and a first stage landing, both at night. SpaceX launched two…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":311948,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[2476,3109,3113,61,3107,60,43,3110,3108,3111,82,247,3112,268],"class_list":["post-311947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-breaking-news","tag-daily-news","tag-global-news","tag-ie","tag-inkl","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-news-app","tag-news-headlines","tag-news-today","tag-science","tag-space","tag-today-news","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=311947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311947\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/311948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AVBjkm9U3rRfPBU8ZpucgF.jpg\")
Two SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets, each carrying Starlink satellites, launched from California (at left) and Florida on Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026. The second booster set a new reuse record (at left). (Image credit: SpaceX)<\/p>\n