Falcon 9 flies 27 satellites after 11-day gap
The 116th launch of 2026 marks a slowdown in the rocket's pace as SpaceX shifts focus to its Starship vehicle.
By Carmen Wojcik ·
The gap between Falcon 9 launches stretched to 11 days before SpaceX lifted off from the California coast on Oct. 23. The rocket carried 27 Starlink broadband satellites into orbit, marking the 116th flight of the vehicle for 2026. This pause in activity follows a previous launch that took place more than three weeks prior, signaling a clear shift in the company's operational rhythm.
The mission, designated Starlink Group 15-15, launched from Pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base at 6:48 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. The first stage booster, B1063, separated from the upper stage approximately 2.5 minutes after liftoff. It subsequently landed on the droneship "Of Course I Still Love You" about eight minutes into the flight. This was the 36th landing for B1063, a booster that also flew NASA's DART asteroid deflection mission in November 2021.
SpaceX is moving its primary focus from Falcon 9 to Starship, a larger and fully reusable rocket. Starship is designed to carry Version 3 Starlink satellites, which are too large for the Falcon 9 payload fairing. The company plans to phase out Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy almost entirely once Starship begins regular operations. This transition is already affecting launch frequency.
The 100th Falcon 9 launch of 2026, which carried Starlink 10-49 from Cape Canaveral, was later identified as the final Starlink mission from Florida's Space Coast. A similar reduction may soon affect West Coast launches. At their peak, Starlink missions launched every two to three days. The current cadence is significantly slower, with the Oct. 23 launch occurring 11 days after the previous flight.
The Starlink constellation now includes more than 11,000 active spacecraft. The Oct. 23 mission added to that total, with deployment scheduled to begin 62 minutes after liftoff. About three-quarters of this year's Falcon 9 launches have dedicated to Starlink. The reduced pace will likely cement 2025 as the busiest year for the rocket, when it completed 165 launches. At the current rate, Falcon 9 is expected to fly just under 150 missions by the end of 2026.
