SpaceX Launches 25 Starlink Satellites and Sticks a Precision Falcon 9 Landing

SpaceX added another 25 satellites to its Starlink constellation today, launching from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The mission — designated Starlink 17-26 — lifted off on February 25, 2026, carried by a Falcon 9 booster that has now proven itself twelve times over.

📊 Key Figures

▶ Watch Launch Video on X

That Landing Was Something Special

The real spectacle today wasn't just the launch — it was the return. NASASpaceflight's coverage team flagged the booster entry burn as unusually clean, noting the approach before touchdown was "crazy good." B1093-11 came down with the kind of precision that still turns heads even after dozens of Falcon 9 recoveries.

▶ Watch Touchdown Video on X

▶ Watch Full Return Clip on X

The booster now carries the designation B1093-12, a milestone that underscores how thoroughly SpaceX has cracked the reusability equation. A rocket core that flies twelve times without issue isn't just an engineering achievement — it's the business model working exactly as intended.

🔭 The BASENOR Take

SpaceX has turned Starlink launches into something close to a weekly cadence, and that relentlessness is the whole strategy. Each batch of 25 satellites is another increment in a constellation designed to deliver high-speed internet to virtually every point on Earth. For most people watching today's launch, the significance isn't this single mission in isolation — it's the compounding effect of launches like this one stacking up month after month.

The booster reuse story deserves a separate mention. B1093 flying its 12th mission means SpaceX is consistently extracting a dozen or more flights from a single core before retirement — a cadence that dramatically compresses the cost-per-launch. When a rocket booster becomes as routine to recover as a commercial airliner, the economics of getting to orbit change permanently. That cost compression is ultimately what funds the more ambitious parts of the SpaceX roadmap.

For our SpaceX coverage, today's mission fits a familiar but important pattern: steady, operational progress that keeps the satellite internet business growing while the hardware continues to mature. Nothing here is a surprise — and that's precisely the point. SpaceX is executing at a level where a 12-flight booster recovery barely registers as news. That consistency is the story.

This report was curated by the BASENOR Editorial Desk from the sources listed above. Read our editorial standards or email editorial@basenor.com to report an error.