SpaceX Hits 100th 2026 Mission With Starlink Launch

The Falcon 9 lifted off from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base at 9:01 p.m. Tuesday local time, or 12:01 a.m. EDT Wednesday. The mission carried 24 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit, while the rocket's first-stage booster, designated B1097, returned to the Pacific Ocean and landed on SpaceX's drone ship Of Course I Still Love You about 8½ minutes after launch. The booster completed its 12th flight, highlighting the company's reliance on reusable hardware to maintain a high launch frequency.

The mission was SpaceX's 97th Falcon 9 launch of the year, with the majority of its 2026 missions dedicated to Starlink. Space.com reported that 74 of the company's first 100 missions had been Starlink flights, and that the constellation had grown to nearly 11,000 operational satellites. SpaceX previously recorded 138 missions in 2024 and 170 in 2025, meaning the company has maintained a pace that has made frequent reusable-rocket launches central to its business and satellite-network expansion.

The latest launch also illustrates the growing role of Starlink in SpaceX's broader operations. The company is using frequent Falcon 9 flights to expand a low-Earth-orbit network designed to provide broadband connectivity, while its longer-term plans include greater use of Starship for much higher launch volumes. SpaceX has now surpassed 100 missions in each of the past three years, although its 2026 milestone was achieved with fewer than three-quarters of the missions completed by this point in 2025.

Sources: Space.com, Spaceflight Now, Yahoo Finance and SpaceX.