Falcon 9 Launches 21 Starlink + 2 Starshield Satellites from Vandenberg — 71st Orbital Mission of 2026; OCISLY 622nd Recovery

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base at approximately 12:24 a.m. EDT (04:24 UTC) on June 7, 2026, carrying 21 Starlink V2 Mini Optimized broadband satellites and 2 Starshield satellites — SpaceX's classified government-variant Starlink units built under contract for US national security customers. The Starshield payload's co-manifest represents a rare public acknowledgment of the government satellite program on a commercially operated launch vehicle. The Falcon 9 first stage booster performed a downrange burn and successfully landed on SpaceX's autonomous spaceport drone ship 'Of Course I Still Love You' (OCISLY) in the Pacific Ocean — the 622nd cumulative SpaceX booster recovery. The 21 Starlink V2 Mini Optimized satellites join the active Starlink constellation, which now exceeds approximately 10,632 satellites in orbit. This is SpaceX's 71st orbital mission of 2026, continuing the company's unprecedented launch cadence as it targets over 140 launches for the full year. The launch occurs during the SpaceX IPO roadshow (June 4–11), with pricing set for June 11 and Nasdaq (SPCX) debut on June 12 — as SpaceX simultaneously carries out history's largest IPO and its most aggressive orbital launch schedule.