SpaceX launches 29 Starlink satellites, lands rocket on ship at sea (video, photos)

SpaceX launched yet another Starlink mission today (Aug.

21), sending 29 more of the broadband satellites to orbit from Florida's Space Coast.

The spacecraft flew aboard a Falcon 9 rocket, which lifted off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station today at 11:14 a.m.

EDT (1514 GMT).

That was a day later than planned; SpaceX scrubbed a liftoff attempt on Thursday (Aug.

20) for reasons that were not immediately clear.

The Falcon 9's first stage came back to Earth as planned today, landing about 8.5 minutes after launch in the Atlantic Ocean atop the SpaceX droneship "A Shortfall of Gravitas." It was the 30th liftoff and touchdown for this particular booster, which is designated B1078.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches 29 Starlink internet satellites from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Aug.

21, 2026. (Image credit: SpaceX) The Falcon 9's upper stage, meanwhile, continued hauling the Starlink satellites skyward.

It will deploy the new batch into low Earth orbit 61.5 minutes after liftoff, if all goes to plan.

There are already quite a few operational Starlink spacecraft up there —nearly 11,000, in fact, according to astronomer and satellite tracker Jonathan McDowell.

The Falcon 9's first stage rests on the deck of a drone ship shortly after its touchdown on Aug.

21, 2026. (Image credit: SpaceX) Previous Booster B1078 launches Crew-6 | SES O3b mPOWER-B | USSF-124 | Bluebird 1-5 | Nusantara Lima (PSN N5) | Starfall Demo | 23 Starlink missions Today's launch was the 98th Falcon 9 flight of the year already.

Seventy-five of them have been dedicated Starlink missions.