SpaceX knocks out sunrise Space Coast launch with record-setting booster

Richard Tribou, Orlando Sentinel on Jun 8, 2026

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A SpaceX launch at sunrise on Monday was business as usual, especially for the booster on the flight, which had made the trip 34 times previous.

A Falcon 9 on the Starlink 10-35 mission carrying 29 Starlink satellites launched at 6:13 a.m. from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40.

The first-stage booster flew for a record-setting 35th time and made a recovery landing downrange in the Atlantic on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas.

The booster had previously been used on two human spaceflights — Crew-3 and Crew-4 — as well as two cargo resupply launches to the International Space Station among others. It made its first launch on June 3, 2021.

SpaceX has three other boosters with 30 or more flights under their belt that are still active and several others closing in on 30.

The company is aiming to reuse boosters as many as 40 times.

The launch marked the 39th from the Space Coast in 2026, with all but six coming from SpaceX.

The others have included four from United Launch Alliance flying one Vulcan and three Atlas V missions, the lone NASA Space Launch System rocket launch on the Artemis II flight and Blue Origin’s lone New Glenn launch.

ULA has one more Atlas V launch lined up for July while Blue Origin won’t launch again until it makes repairs to Launch Complex 36, which suffered major damage during an explosion of a New Glenn during a static fire test last month.

Blue Origin’s New Glenn is the only other rocket other than SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets to recover a rocket stage. New Glenn has only flown three times to date, and was not able to recover the booster flown on its debut mission in January 2025. The booster named “Never Tell Me The Odds” flown on the second and third flights, though, was able to successfully land on its recovery vessel.

That booster was near the launch pad within a building adjacent, but Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp said it and several upper stages in the building did not suffer any major damage. All of them are being transported back to the company’s Merritt Island manufacturing site as work continues to assess how to rebuild the pad.

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