SpaceX Launches 24 More Starlink Satellites, Nears 10,500 in Orbit

SpaceX made its 2nd release of the 12 months in opposition to its increasing web community on Tuesday, May 19, 2026, launching 24 extra satellites to the community from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The satellites, a part of crew 17-42, had been introduced into orbit aboard the Falcon 9 rocket, which lifted off from Space Launch Complex 4 East at 10:46 p.m. EDT. The satellites reached a provisional orbit inside 9 mins and had been totally deployed inside 50 mins.

A Veteran Booster Sticks the Landing

According to Space.com, the booster B1103 used to be on the helm of this endeavour, having flown simplest as soon as prior to. Following its release into house with the higher degree and the satellite tv for pc shipment onboard, the primary degree effectively carried out its reentry manoeuvre to land without delay onto SpaceX’s floating drone send named “Of Course I Still Love You.” The talent to reuse rockets is what makes SpaceX’s Falcon 9 missions economically viable. Instead of taking out a rocket that might value hundreds of thousands of greenbacks after a one-time utilization, SpaceX lands and refuels it for more than one makes use of.

A Megaconstellation Closing in on 10,500

As a results of this newest release, the entire selection of energetic satellites orbiting Earth as a part of the Starlink constellation is solely shy of 10,500, says satellite tv for pc tracker Jonathan McDowell. Each of those small satellites circles our planet in low-Earth orbit, flying at altitudes between about 340 kilometers and 570 kilometers above our planet’s floor—a lot nearer than standard geostationary communications satellites that perform from an altitude of more or less 35,786 kilometers. The shut distance guarantees a latency of lower than 27 milliseconds, permitting packages like video conferencing and on-line gaming in places the place Internet get admission to used to be in the past unavailable.