SpaceX Launches Telecom Satellites in Historic Mission
On September 13, SpaceX successfully launched three telecom satellites into orbit, marking a significant milestone for the company. The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 2:49 PM EDT, carrying the final satellites for SES’ O3b mPOWER constellation.
This launch was the 700th mission for SpaceX’s Falcon rocket family, which began with the Falcon 1 in 2006. The Falcon 9 has conducted the vast majority of these flights, while the Falcon Heavy remains active with 13 launches to date.
The first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket returned to Earth about nine minutes after launch, landing successfully on the SpaceX drone ship “A Shortfall of Gravitas.” This marks the 29th flight for booster B1080. Meanwhile, the upper stage of the rocket transported the O3b mPOWER satellites to medium Earth orbit, deploying them about 33.5 minutes post-launch.
SES already operates ten O3b mPOWER satellites, and these latest additions aim to enhance network performance and reliability as global bandwidth demands increase. Built by Boeing, each satellite weighs approximately 3,750 pounds and is part of a constellation designed to deliver low latency and high throughput.
This was SpaceX’s 107th orbital mission of 2026, with the Falcon 9 accounting for 105 of those flights. The company is also preparing for upcoming suborbital test flights of its Starship megarocket.
