Falcon 9 Starlink — 65th 2026 Orbital Mission; 24 Sats Deployed from Vandenberg SLC-4E, Booster Lands on OCISLY (616th Recovery); VSFB's 35th Launch of 2026

SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying 24 Starlink V2 Mini Optimized satellites at 7:50:34 a.m. PDT (14:50:34 UTC) on May 26, 2026, from Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. The mission deployed 24 Starlink satellites into a polar orbit, continuing to expand the mega-constellation that surpassed 10,000 active spacecraft in orbit on May 25, 2026. The Falcon 9 first stage booster executed a successful landing on the autonomous spaceport drone ship 'Of Course I Still Love You' (OCISLY) in the Pacific Ocean, marking the 616th cumulative Falcon 9 booster recovery in SpaceX history. The launch was SpaceX's 65th orbital mission of 2026 and Vandenberg Space Force Base's 35th launch of the year, reflecting SpaceX's sustained high launch cadence. The mission had experienced multiple booster reassignments before the final vehicle was confirmed. This launch comes four days after Starship IFT-12 Block 3 achieved the world's first in-space Raptor engine relight and Ship 39's controlled Indian Ocean splashdown on May 22, and one day after SpaceX completed IFT-12 post-flight analysis confirming the Booster 19 boostback anomaly root cause (Raptor 3 outer ring fuel conditioning issue). With 65 orbital missions completed by May 26, SpaceX is on pace to approach its 2025 record of 170 orbital launches. The SpaceX IPO management roadshow is nine days away (starting June 4–8), with Nasdaq (SPCX) debut targeting June 12 at a $1.75–2T implied valuation.