Cape Canaveral, Florida, Jan 5, 2026, 20:56 EST
- SpaceX launched 29 Starlink satellites early Jan. 4 from Cape Canaveral after a weather delay.
- The flight resumed Starlink deployments after a Dec. 17 in-orbit anomaly that created debris concerns.
- Another Starlink mission is listed for Jan. 8 from the same Florida pad.
SpaceX launched 29 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit early Sunday, resuming deployments after an in-orbit anomaly last month sidelined one of its spacecraft and forced a delay to a planned mission.
The launch matters now because Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite broadband network, relies on a steady cadence of Falcon 9 flights to expand coverage and replace aging satellites. The December incident also sharpened attention on space debris as traffic builds a few hundred kilometres above Earth.
Starlink already has more than 9,300 satellites in orbit, according to tracking statistics cited by Spaceflight Now, underscoring how quickly the network has grown into one of the world’s largest commercial satellite constellations.
Liftoff of the Starlink 6-88 mission took place at 1:48 a.m. EST (0648 UTC) from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The rocket lifted off after a nearly two-hour delay that Spaceflight Now said was likely tied to poor weather.
The mission flew on a new Falcon 9 first-stage booster believed to be numbered B1101, Spaceflight Now reported. The booster landed on the drone ship Just Read the Instructions about 8.5 minutes after launch, marking the 555th booster landing for SpaceX to date, the report said.
SpaceX had originally scheduled the mission for Dec. 19 but postponed it after losing contact with Starlink satellite number 35956, which was launched on Nov. 23, 2025 from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base, Spaceflight Now reported. SpaceX later said an anomaly caused the satellite to vent propellant and release a small number of trackable objects, and it expected the satellite and debris to reenter and burn up in the atmosphere within weeks.
Former astronaut Ed Lu, founder and chief technology officer of orbital-tracking firm LeoLabs, said the company’s radar detected hundreds of objects from the incident. “As per usual, these objects tend to spread out along the orbital track, and have already spread out over 6000km,” Lu said. ( Source: Spaceflight Now)
The latest Starlink deployment comes as SpaceX pushes into “direct-to-cell” service — satellites designed to connect with standard mobile phones without special hardware — a segment where AST SpaceMobile is also aiming to compete, Spaceflight Now reported.
SpaceX’s next Florida Starlink mission, dubbed Starlink 6-96, is listed for Jan. 8 at 1:29 p.m. EST from the same launch pad, with booster B1069 slated for its 29th flight and a landing on Just Read the Instructions, according to Spaceflight Now’s schedule. ( Spaceflight Now launch schedule) ( SpaceX mission page)
A key uncertainty is whether SpaceX’s fixes fully address what triggered the Dec. 17 anomaly and how much debris the event ultimately produced. Any repeat failures would raise the risk of tighter scrutiny from regulators and other satellite operators, while weather and range constraints can still disrupt the company’s tightly packed launch calendar.
