SpaceX launches 24 Starlink satellites
SpaceX this morning successfully placed another 24 Starlink satellites into orbit, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
The first stage (B1082) completed its 23rd flight (51 days after its previous mission), landing on a drone ship in the Pacific.
The leaders in the 2026 launch race:
87 SpaceX
45 China
10 Rocket Lab (plus two suborbital HASTE launches)
10 Russia
For the third straight year SpaceX leads the entire world combined in total launches, 87 to 80.
SpaceX plans a second launch later today, to place Northrop Grumman’s Mission Robotic Vehicle-1 (MRV) into orbit. The MRV-1 is the first of that company’s next generation of robotic servicing spacecraft. It carries three pods that the company has contracts to deploy to dock with three different geosynchronous satellites and extend their life.
A launch later today by a Chinese pseudo-company is also expected, though this schedule is not as certain.
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I note the smaller lead (87 to 80) by SpaceX over the rest of the world than last year. SpaceX did say that this was going to happen. I even see SpaceX having fewer launches than the rest of the world but still the major launch company when in a few months Starship begins full capacity deployment of Starlink Gen 3. Will Starshield also move to the Gen 3 platform and be launched by Starship?
Great SpaceX reported today that the Jan 20 attempt was aborted at engine light and would attempt again 7/21. Here’s the video. Looks like second time around worked. This is the difference between an an operational reusable booster that has flown 600+ times and a test program attempting its 13th launch with the third block upgrade. Cheers –
https://youtu.be/sWkfVz9J5O8
Will Starshield also move to the Gen 3 platform and be launched by Starship?
That will depend upon what the Space Force wants, but I’m inclined to think the answer will be ‘yes’ not too far down the road.
Hello Bill,
Note that SpaceX is now doing all this with just two launch pads. They’re only using LC-39A for Falcon Heavy launches this year, since Starship launch pad construction is in full swing there now.
It’s frankly staggering just how fast they can turn around SLC-40 now.