Falcon 9 Launches Starlink Satellites from Vandenberg — Booster's 10th Flight

SpaceX launched 25 Starlink internet satellites aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base on April 8, 2026, liftoff at approximately 7:49 p.m. PT. This was the 10th flight for the Falcon 9 first stage booster assigned to the mission. Following stage separation, the booster executed a successful propulsive return and landed on the autonomous drone ship 'Of Course I Still Love You' (OCISLY) in the Pacific Ocean. The mission was SpaceX's 43rd orbital launch of 2026, continuing the company's aggressive cadence of roughly one launch every 2–3 days. The launch was visible over much of Southern California. The deployment pushed SpaceX's total all-time booster recovery count to 596. This mission came just two days after the Starlink 17-35/B1103 debut on April 6, illustrating the back-to-back pace of SpaceX Vandenberg operations in support of continued Starlink constellation build-out.