A Falcon 9 booster flew for the 35th time Friday night, coming within one flight of SpaceX's reuse record, as the company added 24 Starlink satellites to its orbital constellation.
Liftoff from Vandenberg Space Force Base happened at 8:01 p.m. PDT from Space Launch Complex 4 East. The rocket followed a south-southwesterly trajectory out over the Pacific.
The booster, designated B1071, launched the Starlink 17-48 mission on its 35th flight. That puts it one mission shy of the SpaceX reuse record of 36 flights, set days earlier by B1067 on another Starlink run. B1071's resume includes NASA's SWOT mission, five flights for the National Reconnaissance Office, and five SmallSat Rideshare missions.
B1071 landed on the droneship "Of Course I Still Love You" about eight and a half minutes after launch, setting up potential future flights. The upper stage continued to orbit, deploying the 24 satellites roughly 62 minutes after liftoff.
It was the 209th landing on that vessel and the 636th booster landing overall for SpaceX. The Starlink constellation now exceeds 10,700 active satellites, according to orbital tracker Jonathan McDowell. SpaceX recently applied for approval to operate 100,000 spacecraft in low Earth orbit.
Friday's launch was the 81st Falcon 9 mission of 2026. About 80% of those flights have carried Starlink payloads.
