SpaceX sent 27 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit early Sunday morning, launching a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California and recovering the first-stage booster at sea.
The mission lifted off from Pad 4E at 3:25 a.m. EDT (0725 GMT) carrying the Starlink Group 15-16 payload. First-stage booster B1082 separated from the upper stage roughly two and a half minutes into the flight before touching down eight minutes and 23 seconds after launch on the droneship “Of Course I Still Love You,” stationed in the Pacific Ocean.
The successful landing completed the 26th overall flight for booster B1082 and its 21st dedicated to Starlink missions. The booster’s previous operational history includes the USSF-62, OneWeb Launch 20, NROL-145, and Transporter-18 launches. Following separation, the rocket’s second stage conducted a brief three-second engine burn about 53 minutes into the flight to circularize its orbit before releasing the satellite stack.
The launch represents the 117th Falcon 9 mission of 2026, with Starlink flights accounting for roughly three-quarters of that total. SpaceX currently maintains an active constellation of more than 11,000 Starlink satellites, though deployment cadence has adjusted as the company initiates Falcon 9 retirement planning and focuses resources on its upcoming Starship launch vehicle. That transition included halting Starlink launches out of Florida earlier in the year.
Source: space.com
