SpaceX Starlink Launch Lights Up the Pre-Dawn Sky

Before most of Polk County poured its first cup of coffee Thursday morning, the sky put on a show.

At 5:25 a.m., a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, carrying 29 Starlink broadband satellites into low Earth orbit. Thousands of residents across the South and right here in Polk County stepped outside or caught the moment from their windows as a brilliant streak of light crossed the pre-dawn sky.

Thursday’s launch was no ordinary Starlink mission. The Falcon 9 first-stage booster, known as B1067, flew for a record-breaking 36th time, surpassing its own company record and making history as the most-flown rocket booster in SpaceX history. The only vehicle with more orbital missions is NASA’s space shuttle Discovery, which flew 39 times. About eight and a half minutes after liftoff, B1067 returned to Earth and landed on SpaceX’s drone ship, “A Shortfall of Gravitas,” stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.

Thursday’s flight marked the 80th Falcon 9 launch of 2026, with roughly 80 percent of SpaceX’s missions this year dedicated to expanding the Starlink constellation, now one of the largest satellite networks ever assembled.

For residents who caught the sight, it was one of those small, unexpected gifts that come with living close to Florida’s Space Coast.

Sources: Spaceu.com, WFTV News 9, SpaceX. Launch data confirmed via Space Launch Now. Video and photo credit: Jonathan Shaban, Spectrum News 13 Photojournalist, via Facebook.