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2w ago

SpaceX Launches 29 Starlink Satellites as Booster B1078 Logs 30th Landing

Rescheduled after a one-day scrub, the flight underscores SpaceX’s rapid-launch, booster-reuse approach as its Starlink network approaches 11,000 satellites.

This graphic shows the cloud forecast Aug. 21 in Arizona ahead of a launch window that opens at the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
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Overview

  • A Falcon 9 lifted 29 Starlink broadband satellites from Cape Canaveral on Aug. 21, 2026, after a planned launch was scrubbed the previous day.
  • The first stage, booster B1078, landed on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas about 8.5 minutes after liftoff, marking its 30th flight and recovery.
  • SpaceX planned the Falcon 9 upper stage to release the new batch into low Earth orbit roughly 61.5 minutes after launch as part of the mission timeline.
  • This launch was part of a very high 2026 tempo for SpaceX, representing the company’s 98th Falcon 9 flight of the year and one of roughly 75 Starlink missions so far.
  • The mission advances SpaceX’s goal to expand and refresh Starlink, which tracker Jonathan McDowell says now has nearly 11,000 operational satellites, and the company is set to press the pace with its next Vandenberg flight that would be its 100th orbital mission of 2026.