February finale: SpaceX wraps up month with three Starlink launches this week

a montage of three photos showing a rocket launch, satellites being deployed into Earth orbit and a timelapse exposure of another rocket launch — Two Falcon 9 launches from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida and one from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California deployed 83 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit (at center), wrapping up the last week of February 2026 for the SpaceX network. (Image credit: SpaceX)

In what has become hardly a leap for the company, SpaceX concluded its Starlink satellite launches for February 2026 with a trio of flights this week.

On Tuesday (Feb. 24) at 6:04 p.m. EST (2304 GMT), a Falcon 9 lifted the first 29 satellites into low Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The next day, 25 more Starlink units were sent spaceward by a different Falcon 9 flying at 9:17 a.m. EST (1417 GMT or 6:17 a.m. PST local time) from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

Booster 1092 missions

CRS-32 | NROL-69 | GPS III-7 | USSF-36 | 5 Starlink missions

Booster 1093 missions

T1TL-B |T1TL-C | 8 Starlink missions

All three launches successfully deployed their Starlink payloads (Groups 6-110, 17-26 and 6-108) into the expected orbit, SpaceX confirmed.

Also on all three flights, the Falcon 9 rocket's first stage flew back to Earth to land on an ocean-based drone ship. Tuesday's booster (B1092) touched down on Just Read the Instructions stationed in the Atlantic Ocean, completing its 10th mission. Wednesday's booster (B1093) landed on Of Course I Still Love You stationed in the Pacific Ocean, marking the end of its 11th flight.

Booster 1069 missions

CRS-24 | Eutelsat HOTBIRD 13F | OneWeb 1 | SES-18 and SES-19 | 25 Starlink missions

Friday's booster (B1069) wrapped its 30th trip to space and back on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship, which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.

The 83 satellites boosted the commercial broadband internet network to including more than 9,850 units in Earth orbit, according to satellite tracker Jonathan McDowell.

The Starlink service provides access to the internet to areas around the world where connectivity is sparse or non-existent. The network also supports cell-to-satellite on select carriers and in-flight wifi on some airlines.

Friday's launch was SpaceX's 25th Falcon 9 mission of 2026.

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.