SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying 29 Starlink satellites into orbit from the U.S. Space Force base at Cape Canaveral, Florida, on August 21, 2026. The rocket lifted off at 11:14 a.m. Eastern Time, which corresponds to 6:14 p.m. Moscow time.
The mission was originally scheduled to take place a day earlier on August 20, but SpaceX aborted the attempt in the final seconds before liftoff. The company did not state why the launch was cancelled at the last second.
Approximately 8.5 minutes after liftoff, the Falcon 9 first-stage booster, designated B1078, performed a controlled descent and landed on the autonomous drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. The landing was the 30th successful flight and recovery for this specific booster.
Booster flight history and reuse
Booster B1078 had previously served on several high-profile missions, including the crewed Crew-6 flight to the International Space Station, launches for O3b mPOWER communications satellites, and the USSF-124 military mission. Out of its 30 total flights, 23 have been dedicated specifically to expanding SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet network.
The Starlink constellation currently includes nearly 11,000 active satellites in orbit, according to calculations by Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer and independent spacecraft tracking specialist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. SpaceX continues to regularly add several dozen satellites with each launch to expand global broadband coverage.
SpaceX launch pace in 2026
The August 21 flight marked the 98th Falcon 9 mission conducted by SpaceX since the start of 2026, with 75 of those flights dedicated to deploying Starlink satellites. In total, SpaceX has completed 101 rocket launches during 2026 across its launch vehicle fleet.
In addition to the 98 Falcon 9 launches, the company's 2026 tally includes one flight of the heavy-lift Falcon Heavy rocket and two test flights of its super-heavy Starship launch vehicle system. SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk in 2002, operates launch sites in Florida and California as it maintains an unprecedented flight frequency.
