SpaceX Flies 80th Starlink Mission of 2026 as It Clears Florida Pads for Starship

SpaceX launched the Starlink 15-24 mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Sunday morning, marking its 80th Starlink flight of the year. The mission was the third since the company decided to stop launching Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rockets from Florida, redirecting future Florida Starlink flights to Starship.

The shift reflects a deliberate reallocation of launch resources. SpaceX is preparing Florida for Starship-Super Heavy operations, working on three Starship launch towers in the state: one at Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center and two at Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Liftoff of Starlink 15-24 from Space Launch Complex 4 East was scheduled for 7:26 a.m. PDT, with the rocket flying on a southeasterly trajectory. SpaceX used Falcon 9 first stage booster B1088, flying for a 19th time after previously supporting three national security missions, Transporter-12, NASA's SPHEREx, and 13 batches of Starlink satellites. Nearly 8.5 minutes after liftoff, B1088 targeted a landing on the droneship Of Course I Still Love You in the Pacific Ocean, which if successful would be the 223rd landing on that vessel and the 659th Falcon booster landing to date.

"From here on, Starlink missions out of Florida will fly on Starship," said Kiko Dontchev, Vice President for Launch at SpaceX. The company aims to launch its first Starship mission from Florida before the end of the year.

SpaceX is also working toward its first orbital launch of the more than 400-foot-tall Starship rocket, which will fly from Starbase, Texas. The company completed single-engine and six-engine static fire tests for Ship 41 and a 33-engine static fire test for Booster 21, both of which will fly on Starship Flight 14.

The consolidation of Falcon 9 Starlink launches on the West Coast, as Dontchev's statement makes clear, frees Florida infrastructure for Starship-Super Heavy operations, signaling how close SpaceX believes it is to flying Starship from the Cape.

A launch date for Starship Flight 14 has not been announced, though hazard warnings for aviators and mariners suggest the mission may fly no earlier than Sept. 15. SpaceX continues to target its first Florida Starship launch before the end of the year.