Update 9:08 p.m. EST (0208 UTC): SpaceX landed the booster on the droneship.
SpaceX launched the first of two planned Starlink flights over the weekend. Up first was the launch of the Starlink 15-1 mission on Saturday, which carried with it 22 Starlink V2 Mini satellites.
Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base happened at 5:38 p.m. PST (8:38 p.m. EST, 0138 UTC).
SpaceX used the Falcon 9 first stage booster with the tail number B1082 on this mission, which launched for an 11th time. It previously launched USSF-62, OneWeb Launch 20 and eight batches of Starlink satellites.
A little more than eight minutes after liftoff, B1082 landed on the SpaceX droneship, ‘Of Course I Still Love You,’ marking the 121st booster landing for OCISLY and the 412th booster landing to date.
With the launch of the Starlink 15-1 mission, SpaceX sent more than 8,000 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit, according to stats from astronomer and expert orbital tracker, Jonathan McDowell. This mission brought the company to 376 Starlink satellites launched in 2025 alone.
McDowell’s database states that as of Feb. 21, there were 7,078 Starlink satellites remaining on orbit.
The flight sent its 22 Starlink satellites to an inclination of 70 degrees. The first time SpaceX launched a batch of operational Starlink satellites to this inclination was on Sept. 13, 2021, with the launch of the Starlink 2-1 mission.
There were a total of eight missions launched as part of Starlink Group 2 with the last being Starlink 2-10 on May 31, 2023.
Separately, all of the missions launched for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) to support its proliferated architecture have gone to an inclination of 70 degrees as well. These satellites are believed to be Starshield, which are the government version of Starlink developed by SpaceX and Northrop Grumman.
The NROL-126 mission, which launched on Nov. 30, 2024, was distinct since it also included 20 Starlink satellites.
SpaceX hasn’t said if there might be any Starshield satellites on this flight or if they may be replenishing satellites that have been deorbited. As of Feb. 21, McDowell database shows that that of the 408 Starlink V1.5 satellites launched as part of Group 2, 12 are no longer on orbit.
source: spaceflightnow.com