SpaceX is targeting a Falcon 9 launch of 27 Starlink satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Tuesday. Liftoff is scheduled for 4:10 p.m. PDT (7:10 p.m. EDT), and the booster will fly for the 36th time. Earlier in the day, SpaceX reported $5.2 billion in third-quarter connectivity revenue and said it added 1.6 million Starlink customers.
An earlier version of the TL;DR said the Falcon 9 had already launched and that booster B1063 landed on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas. The launch was still scheduled for 4:10 p.m. PDT, and SpaceX's mission page says the booster will land on the Of Course I Still Love You droneship in the Pacific (spacex.com/launches/sl-15-15). The TL;DR has been corrected.
SpaceX closed the quarter with more than 11,100 Starlink satellites in orbit.
The company plans to deploy Starlink V3 satellites in meaningful volume through the end of 2026 and throughout 2027, with each Starship launch eventually providing over 20 times the downlink capacity of current Falcon 9 missions.
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SpaceX reported Q3 2026 revenue of $14.6 billion, up 161% from a year earlier, and net income of $4.4 billion. On its earnings webcast, CFO Bret Johnsen said SpaceX expects Q1 2027 revenue of $33 billion to $37 billion, and CEO Elon Musk said SpaceX will try to catch Starship on Flight 15 next month.
SpaceX launched Bandwagon-5 from Cape Canaveral on October 20 at 11:04 UTC, carrying its Starfall reentry capsule and 31 customer payloads, 32 in all. The Falcon 9 booster landed on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas after Monday's attempt was scrubbed for weather.
SpaceX has agreed to acquire Grain Management's nationwide 800 MHz spectrum portfolio, which it says will pave the way for Starlink Mobile to become a major US mobile carrier. The deal needs FCC approval, and financial terms were not disclosed.
SpaceX is seeking $40 billion in debt financing led by Apollo Global Management to buy Nvidia AI chips, with talks still early and a possible 2027 close. The move highlights the scale of capital required for AI infrastructure expansion across Musk's companies.
Elon Musk said on October 4 that SpaceXAI will be renamed SpaceXSI, adopting "SI" for super intelligence after President Trump's push to drop "AI."
