SpaceX launches 24 Starlink satellites from Vandenberg, booster lands on drone ship

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SpaceX has sent yet another batch of its Starlink internet satellites into orbit.

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 24 of the broadband spacecraft lifted off from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base on Friday (July 31) at 11:08 p.m. EDT (8:08 p.m. local time; 0308 GMT on Aug. 1).

The rocket's first stage came back to Earth as planned 8.5 minutes later, touching down in the Pacific Ocean atop the SpaceX droneship "Of Course I Still Love You." It was the 26th mission for this particular booster, which is designated B1081.

Previous Booster B1081 launches

Crew-7 | CRS-29 | PACE | Transporter-10 | EarthCARE | NROL-186 | Transporter-13 | TRACERS | NROL-48 | COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation FM3 | 15 Starlink missions

The 24 Starlink satellites were deployed into low Earth orbit (LEO) 61.5 minutes after liftoff as planned, SpaceX confirmed via X .

They're joining more than 10,800 other spacecraft in the Starlink megaconstellation, by far the largest satellite network ever assembled.

A batch of SpaceX's Starlink satellites is seen high above Earth before deployment from their Falcon 9 rocket on July 31, 2026. (Image credit: SpaceX) SpaceX has now launched 89 Falcon 9 missions in 2026, 69 of which have been dedicated Starlink flights.

The company also has three other liftoffs under its belt this year — one launch of its powerful Falcon Heavy vehicle and two test flights of Starship , the fully reusable megarocket SpaceX is developing to help humanity settle the moon and Mars, among other tasks.