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SpaceX flew its 71st operational Starlink delivery of 2026 on August 8, sending 24 satellites into orbit from Vandenberg Space Force Base. The Starlink 17-38 mission was also the company’s 50th West Coast launch this year, as East Coast cadence has slowed while Starship preparations ramp up at Boca Chica. The constellation now stands at 12,692 launched, 10,939 in orbit, and 10,923 working.

Space Safety

Eight Starlink satellites appear in the current SOCRATES high-probability conjunction list, though none cross the high-risk threshold. Five Starlink vehicles carry active reentry predictions from 18th Space Defense Squadron tracking.

Risk
Starlink Sat
Other Object
Status
Min Range (km)
Rel Speed (km/s)
Max Prob
Time of Closest Approach

MODERATE
STARLINK-36791
ELECTRON KICK STAGE R/B
Non-operational
0.018
7.722
0.2399
Aug 9, 16:00 UTC

MODERATE
STARLINK-5547
STARLINK-36554
Partially Operational
0.036
1.293
0.2244
Aug 11, 07:33 UTC

MODERATE
STARLINK-5121
OBJECT B
Operational
0.023
5.913
0.1802
Aug 9, 21:59 UTC

MODERATE
STARLINK-36544
SIMSAT 2
Unknown
0.027
9.148
0.1267
Aug 9, 11:47 UTC

MODERATE
STARLINK-4709
LIZZIESAT-2 (LS-2)
Operational
0.029
4.832
0.12
Aug 13, 14:43 UTC

LOW
STARLINK-37746
JILIN-1 GAOFEN 03D47
Operational
0.024
14.786
0.09603
Aug 13, 19:01 UTC

LOW
STARLINK-31133
NASBSAT-1
Operational
0.035
7.375
0.08521
Aug 11, 01:27 UTC

LOW
STARLINK-37168
MISR-C-2
Operational
0.038
8.954
0.06904
Aug 11, 17:42 UTC

Satellite
NORAD ID
Predicted Decay
Window (min)
Inclination
Lat
Lon

STARLINK-2342
47883
Aug 9, 09:39 UTC
180
53.1°
-52.9°
34.8°

STARLINK-2019
47641
Aug 9, 21:26 UTC
360
53°
31.1°
3.5°

STARLINK-2163
47749
Aug 10, 14:05 UTC
600
53.1°
8.3°
352.7°

STARLINK-1646
46351
Aug 11, 03:51 UTC
720
53°
50.1°
22.8°

STARLINK-1873
47158
Aug 12, 23:39 UTC
1140
53°
50.4°
5.9°

Detailed Coverage
Falcon 9 Hits 50th Vandenberg Launch of the Year With Starlink 17-38

SpaceX launched 24 Starlink satellites from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base on August 8 at 9:35 a.m. PDT (1635 UTC). Booster B1093, now on its 16th flight, landed on the drone ship Of Course I Still Love You roughly eight minutes after liftoff. B1093 entered the fleet in April 2025 and has carried a mix of payloads including two SDA Tranche 1 Transport Layer missions, the Transporter-16 rideshare, and 12 prior Starlink batches.

The mission was SpaceX’s 50th launch from the West Coast this year. Vandenberg’s tempo has picked up as Cape Canaveral’s rate has dipped, a shift driven by Starship infrastructure work on the East Coast. As we noted in our earlier coverage, this was the 71st operational Starlink delivery mission of 2026.

Read the full story: SpaceflightNow

Constellation Status

SpaceX added 24 satellites to the constellation through Starlink Group 17-38, bringing the total launched count to 12,692. Of those, 10,923 are currently working and 10,939 remain in orbit, with five more having decayed since the last update (1,753 total). The gap between in-orbit and working counts holds steady at 16, a small number of recently deployed units still raising orbit or undergoing checkout.

Total Launched: 12692
Total On Orbit: 10939
Total Working: 10923

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Wondering about the totals? See how many Starlink satellites are in orbit, updated daily.