Falcon 9 Flies After 11-Day Pause

SpaceX launched 27 Starlink broadband satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Oct. 23, ending an 11-day gap between Starlink missions. The flight, designated Starlink Group 15-15, lifted off Pad 4E at 3:48 p.m. local time, marking the 116th Falcon 9 mission of 2026.

The rocket’s first stage, booster B1063, separated from the upper stage 2.5 minutes after liftoff. The booster reoriented and landed on the droneship Of Course I Still Love You roughly 8 minutes and 20 seconds into the mission. This was the 36th flight for the booster, which also carried NASA’s DART asteroid deflection mission in November 2021.

The upper stage completed its first burn after booster landing and coasted for approximately 45 minutes before a final orbital insertion burn. The fairing jettisoned just before the three-minute mark, and satellite deployment was scheduled to begin 62 minutes after liftoff.

The launch adds to a constellation that now contains more than 11,000 active spacecraft. SpaceX is shifting focus to the Starship rocket, which is designed for full reusability and features a payload bay large enough for Version 3 Starlink satellites. These newer satellites are too large for the Falcon 9. Once Starship operations begin, SpaceX plans to phase out Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy almost entirely.

The shift is visible in launch frequency. Falcon 9 Starlink missions from Florida’s Space Coast ended with the Starlink 10-49 group, the 100th Falcon 9 launch of 2026. Similar reductions may soon affect West Coast launches. At their peak, these flights occurred every two to three days. The Oct. 23 launch followed a previous flight by 11 days, and that prior mission was the first in more than three weeks.

About three-quarters of the 116 Falcon 9 launches in 2026 carried Starlink payloads. The reduced cadence is likely to cement 2025, which saw 165 launches, as the rocket’s busiest year on record. At the current pace, the Falcon 9 is expected to complete just under 150 missions by the end of 2026.