SpaceX flies 116th Falcon 9 mission of 2026 as Starlink launches slow

SpaceX launched 27 Starlink satellites from the California coast on Oct. 23, lifting off from Pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base at 6:48 p.m. EDT, which was 3:48 p.m. local time in California. The mission, designated Starlink Group 15-15, is the 116th Falcon 9 flight of 2026.

The first stage booster, B1063, separated from the upper stage about 2.5 minutes into flight and touched down on the droneship "Of Course I Still Love You" roughly 20 seconds after its landing burn began past the eight-minute mark. It was the booster's 36th launch and landing. B1063 also carried NASA's DART asteroid mission in November 2021. The fairing protecting the satellites was jettisoned just before the three-minute mark, and deployment of the spacecraft into low Earth orbit was scheduled to begin 62 minutes after liftoff.

The Starlink constellation now exceeds 11,000 active satellites. About three-quarters of this year's Falcon 9 launches have been dedicated to Starlink missions. The rocket completed 165 launches in 2025, its busiest year, and is expected to fly just under 150 missions by the end of 2026.

Launches have slowed as SpaceX shifts to its Starship rocket, which is built for full reusability and can carry Version 3 Starlink satellites that are too large for Falcon 9. SpaceX plans to retire Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy once Starship enters operational service. The Falcon 9's 100th launch of 2026, the Starlink 10-49 group from Cape Canaveral, was the final Falcon 9 Starlink mission from Florida's Space Coast.

Starlink missions once flew every two to three days at their peak. The flight before Oct. 23 launched 11 days earlier, and that mission was itself the first in more than three weeks.

The Falcon 9's upper stage completed its first engine burn shortly after the booster landed and was set to coast for about 45 minutes before a final orbital insertion burn.