Overview
- A Falcon 9 launch from Space Launch Complex 40 was scrubbed on Wednesday and rescheduled for Thursday at 6:26 a.m. to carry 29 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit.
- The mission's first‑stage booster will fly for the 12th time and is set to attempt a landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean after stage separation.
- SpaceX plans a separate Falcon 9 launch from Vandenberg on Saturday with a four‑hour window opening at 7 p.m. PT to deliver 21 more Starlink satellites and will stream both missions live.
- Repeated booster reuse and frequent launches are being used to speed constellation buildout and lower per‑satellite launch costs by recovering stages on offshore droneships.
- Starlink now counts nearly 10,000 satellites in its growing low‑Earth‑orbit network and serves millions of users, a scale that is drawing commercial customers such as American Airlines, which plans Starlink Wi‑Fi for flights in 2027.