SpaceX Hits 100 Launches in 2026 With Vandenberg Starlink Flight

HAWTHORNE, Calif. — SpaceX reached triple digits for the third consecutive year on Tuesday night, launching its 100th mission of 2026 as a Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California carrying 24 Starlink satellites.

The rocket cleared Space Launch Complex 4 East at 8:45 p.m. PDT, threading a four-hour window and sending the broadband satellites toward low Earth orbit. It was the 97th Falcon 9 flight of the year and the 100th SpaceX mission overall — the third straight year the company has hit the century mark, and the latest in a run of records that included two Falcon 9 rockets launching just 38 minutes apart last week.

A Cadence Unlike Anything in Spaceflight

Reaching 100 launches before the end of August underscores how far SpaceX has pushed reusable rocketry. The company flew 138 times in 2024 and 170 times in 2025, and the 2026 pace keeps it on track to challenge that record again. The vast majority of this year''s flights — 73 so far — have been dedicated to expanding Starlink, which now counts nearly 11,000 operational satellites beaming internet across all seven continents.

Tuesday''s launch also extended a booster-reuse streak no competitor has matched. The first stage, designated B1097, was flying for the 12th time after previously lofting Sentinel-6B, NROL-172 and Transporter-17 along with seven earlier Starlink batches. During an April flight, the same booster notched the 600th landing of an orbital rocket in company history. Minutes after liftoff it touched down again on the drone ship Of Course I Still Love You in the Pacific.

Starlink Powers the Numbers

Nearly every 2026 mission has served the Starlink build-out, and the constellation''s growth has translated directly into revenue and reach. SpaceX crossed its 50th West Coast launch of the year earlier this month, with Vandenberg emerging as a workhorse pad for polar and high-inclination Starlink shells.

Only three of this year''s 100 flights used a vehicle other than Falcon 9: one Falcon Heavy mission and two suborbital test flights of Starship, the fully reusable rocket SpaceX is developing to eventually take over the bulk of its manifest.

The Road to 1,000

Elon Musk has said the long-term goal is to launch Starship multiple times per day, pushing annual tallies toward 1,000 flights as the giant vehicle assumes the workload now carried by Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy. That vision would dwarf even 2026''s blistering pace, and it hinges on Starship reaching operational maturity over the next few years.

For now, the 100-launch mark is a reminder that SpaceX has turned orbital access into something close to an assembly line. According to Space.com''s coverage of the milestone, the company is comfortably ahead of last year''s pace with more than four months still to run — leaving plenty of runway to set yet another annual record before 2026 is out.