SpaceX launches 24 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 launch from California

A rocket appears in silhoutte as it lifts off for space backdropped by the setting sun. — A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying 24 Starlink satellites lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Tuesday, May 19, 2026. (Image credit: SpaceX)

SpaceX expanded its low Earth orbit megaconstellation on Tuesday (May 19), adding 24 more Starlink satellites on a successful launch from California.

A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 10:46 p.m. EDT (0246 GMT on May 20 or 7:46 p.m. PDT local time) from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in southern California. The Starlink satellites (Group 17-42), still mounted in the rocket's upper stage, reached a preliminary orbit about 8 minutes and 40 seconds after their launch.

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standing on its four deployed legs atop an ocean based droneship, a rocket's first stage is seen standing upright after returning from space. — The first stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stands poised on its landing legs as they steady the booster atop a Pacific Ocean-based droneship, "Of Course I Still Love You" on Tuesday, May 19, 2026. (Image credit: SpaceX)

Previous Booster B1103 launches

1 Starlink mission

The Falcon 9 rocket, booster 1103, completed its first reuse (second flight) by landing on the Pacific Ocean-based droneship, "Of Course I Still Love."

Tuesday's launch brought the Starlink satellite network to just under 10,500 working units, according to tracker Jonathan McDowell.

The launch was SpaceX's 58th mission of the year, and the company's 651st successful launch since 2010.

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.