SpaceX springs forward with another Starlink launch from California

Hours after setting clocks forward for Daylight Savings Time, SpaceX went forward with a launch of Starlink satellites on Sunday (March 8).

Article continues below

a time lapse photo captures the glowing streak of a rocket's plume as it climbs spaceward adding to the light from the moon — A time-lapse photograph captures the streak of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as it launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Sunday, March 8, 2026. (Image credit: SpaceX)

Previous Booster 1097 missions

Sentinel-6B | Twilight | 4 Starlink missions

The launch increased the total number of active Starlink satellites to 9,915, according to satellite tracker Jonathan McDowell.

The mission was SpaceX's 29th of the year and 639th in its history.

Robert Pearlman is a space historian, journalist and the founder and editor of collectSPACE.com, a daily news publication and community devoted to space history with a particular focus on how and where space exploration intersects with pop culture. Pearlman is also a contributing writer for Space.com and co-author of "Space Stations: The Art, Science, and Reality of Working in Space” published by Smithsonian Books in 2018.

In 2009, he was inducted into the U.S. Space Camp Hall of Fame in Huntsville, Alabama. In 2021, he was honored by the American Astronautical Society with the Ordway Award for Sustained Excellence in Spaceflight History. In 2023, the National Space Club Florida Committee recognized Pearlman with the Kolcum News and Communications Award for excellence in telling the space story along the Space Coast and throughout the world.