SpaceX Reaches 90th Orbital Launch of 2026 With Latest Starlink Mission

SpaceX launched its 90th orbital mission of 2026 on Friday night, sending another 24 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit aboard a Falcon 9 from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The milestone came just seven months into the year, with liftoff set for 7:59 p.m. PDT from Space Launch Complex 4 East.

The Starlink 17-52 mission lifted off four days later than originally planned. As is usual, SpaceX did not disclose why the flight was repeatedly delayed from its original launch date of Monday, July 27.

The mission adds to a Starlink constellation that now numbers more than 10,800 satellites in orbit. Starlink 17-52 is the 69th batch of Starlink V2 Mini Optimized satellites launched to orbit this year, part of a launch pace that has included 90 Falcon rocket flights in 2026, one of them a Falcon Heavy.

The flight used Falcon 9 first stage B1081 on its 26th mission. The booster has previously launched 15 batches of Starlink satellites along with multiple missions for NASA and other customers, including NASA's SpaceX Crew-7 in August 2023, SpaceX CRS-29, NASA's PACE, ESA's EarthCARE, NROL-186, NASA's TRACERS, and COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation FM3 in January 2026.

A little more than eight minutes after liftoff, B1081 targeted a landing on the droneship Of Course I Still Love You, positioned in the Pacific Ocean. A successful recovery would mark the 214th landing on that vessel and the 643rd orbital booster landing to date for SpaceX.

At 90 launches by the end of July, SpaceX is averaging roughly one launch every 2.4 days. With five months still remaining in the year, the company is on pace to shatter its own annual launch records. No other launch provider in history has approached this cadence, and the gap between SpaceX and every other provider, including next-generation rockets from Blue Origin, Rocket Lab, and Relativity Space, is not closing in any meaningful near-term timeframe. A Payload report this week, examining what cadence to expect from next-generation vehicles such as New Glenn and Neutron, concluded the honest answer is not this.

SpaceX continues to add satellites to its constellation at a steady pace, with each Starlink mission carrying 24 satellites. The next batches will keep building on the more than 10,800 spacecraft already in orbit as the company presses toward new launch totals over the remainder of 2026.