Falcon 9 Starlink 17-35 — 59th 2026 Orbital Mission; 24 Sats Deployed, B1103 Lands on OCISLY (612th Recovery)

SpaceX launched Falcon 9 mission Starlink Group 17-35 at 02:46 UTC on May 20, 2026 (10:46 p.m. EDT May 19) from Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. The mission deployed 24 Starlink V2 Mini Optimized satellites into a polar orbit, adding to the constellation serving SpaceX's 10.3 million subscribers. The Falcon 9 first stage booster B1103 executed a successful landing on the drone ship 'Of Course I Still Love You' (OCISLY) deployed in the Pacific Ocean, marking the 612th cumulative Falcon 9 booster recovery in SpaceX history. This mission was SpaceX's 59th orbital launch of 2026, continuing the company's pace toward exceeding its 2025 record of 170 launches.