SpaceX Rocket Launches 27 Starlink Satellites On Record Setting 35th Flight

Video shows a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launching 27 Starlink satellites to orbit from Vandenberg Space Force Base on September 2 at 4:42 a.m. EDT, or 1:42 a.m. local time.

The mission marked the 35th flight of the rocket’s first-stage booster, known as B1063, putting it just two flights behind SpaceX’s reuse record, set by B1067 the previous week.

About 8.5 minutes after liftoff, B1063 successfully returned to Earth, landing in the Pacific Ocean aboard the SpaceX drone ship “Of Course I Still Love You.”

The Falcon 9 upper stage continued the mission, deploying all 27 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit 62 minutes after launch. They joined the largest satellite constellation ever assembled, which currently has more than 11,000 active spacecraft.

The launch was the 102nd Falcon 9 flight of 2026, with 79 of those missions dedicated to expanding the Starlink megaconstellation.

SpaceX has also launched four other times this year, including two Falcon Heavy missions and two suborbital Starship test flights. The second Falcon Heavy launch took place on August 30, carrying NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.