Live: SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches Starfall reentry demonstration mission from Cape Canaveral [1:29:12] [time index linked to 1 hour mark]

YouTube ^ | June 23, 2026 | Spaceflight Now

[SunkenCiv]

Streamed live 4 hours ago 

Live: SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches Starfall reentry demonstration mission from Cape Canaveral | 1:29:12 
Spaceflight Now | 477K subscribers | 24,634 views | June 23, 2026

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TOPICS: Business/Economy
KEYWORDS: elonmusk; falcon9; spacex; starfall

[SunkenCiv]

Watch live coverage as a Falcon 9 rocket carrying a demonstration mission for a new SpaceX re-entry vehicle called Starfall.. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is scheduled for Tuesday, June 23, at 6:53 a.m. EDT (1053 UTC).

The first-stage Falcon 9 booster, serial number B1078, launching for a 29th time, will land on SpaceX's drone ship 'A Shortfall of Gravitas', stationed in the Atlantic Ocean, roughly 8.5 minutes after leaving the launch pad.

The Starfall mission, will take a south-easterly trajectory on departure from Florida's Space Coast.

Our live coverage with commentary from Spaceflight Now's Will Robinson-Smith will start about one hour prior to launch.

[House Atreides]

SpaceX is being very quiet on the Starfall capsule(s) in this initial test. Look forward to capsule reentry at a (currently) unannounced date/time. Hope there is live coverage.

[House Atreides]

The launch and booster landing were successful and on time.

[SunkenCiv]

starfall launch
https://search.brave.com/search?q=starfall+launch&summary=1
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=starfall+launch

[SunkenCiv]

It must be great to be in a job where launches and recoveries are so clockwork-like that they happen with little fanfare. I was disappointed that the New Glenn went boom, but it was kind of a nice change to see a serious launch failure for the first time in ages.

At the end of the vid, Will “Danger Danger” Robinson-Smith noted that the Grace telescope has been delivered to the Cape and will soon be a payload for the Falcon 9.

[Rockingham]

I suspect that, in addition to the announced commercial applications, the Starfall capsule also has military significance.

[rlmorel]

I find this fascinating. I had not heard of this.

The military applications are obvious and could be extremely important. Things like an aircraft carrier in a war zone that has a critical equipment failure that could imperil the mission, vessel, or even the battle group.

But when I thought about the civilian applications, for fast delivery of things in a very short time frame, I initially pooh-poohed it, until I realized that they are planning to launch dozens of Starships a day at some point.

If that is the case, and some industry on the other side of the globe needs a critical component of some kind, and the lack of it creates a significant loss, loading it into the Pez Dispenser of the next Starship launch in an hour that has an open spot, to be jettisoned in the correct trajectory to have it come down somewhere retrievable for the customer might be a real thing not to be rejected out of hand.

Granted, there are a lot of things to be considered, but I recall thinking that it was going to be nearly impossible to do what Amazon has done with same day delivery of things in a cost-effective way. Sure, you could get same day delivery of things before Amazon, but you paid out the nose.

Now, you can get same day delivery at no extra charge for a multitude of things that would not be considered critical to anything.

[Rockingham]

Correct. In addition, some analysts believe that once the Starship is reliable, a variant could be developed for the quick deployment of troops or cargo around the world. A global passenger route network is also possible.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

"...the Starfall capsule also has military significance"

Indeed. The first cameras orbiting Earth physically returned exposed film to the ground via reentry capsules, rather than transmitting images electronically. The U.S. Corona (KH-1 and later, aka "Keyhole") reconnaissance satellite program, which began launching in 1959 (with the first fully successful film recovery in August 1960). These were the earliest operational orbital imaging systems for Earth observation, primarily for intelligence purposes. Satellites like those in the Corona/Discoverer series carried panoramic cameras (e.g., built by Fairchild) that exposed high-resolution photographic film while in orbit. Early versions had ground resolutions around 12–40 feet (improving later to ~5–7 feet). You can see one at the National Air & Space Museum in Washington, DC.

Discoverer 13 (August 1960) achieved the first full recovery of a man-made object from orbit (a test capsule). Discoverer 14 soon after returned actual film, imaging over a million square miles of territory.

One would think that data telemetry, having eliminated the need to return film from orbit, would have ended the need to bring physical payloads down from orbit. But there are many military needs and active programs:

• In-space manufacturing and materials processing: Microgravity enables unique production of pharmaceuticals, protein crystals, advanced alloys, semiconductors, or other materials with properties difficult or impossible to achieve on Earth. These must be physically returned.
• Point-to-point / Rocket Cargo logistics: Rapid global delivery of cargo—supplies, equipment, humanitarian aid, or time-critical items—anywhere on Earth in under ~90 minutes via suborbital or orbital trajectories. This bypasses contested airspace, vulnerable sea/air routes, and traditional logistics chains.
• Orbital warehousing and on-demand delivery: Pre-position supplies or assets in orbit for rapid, precise drops to specific locations. Useful for medical supplies, battlefield equipment, etc.
• Secure/sensitive physical returns or testing: Returning classified hardware prototypes, space-exposed materials, or items where electronic transmission poses interception risks or bandwidth limits. Also for hypersonic reentry testing and materials validation.

[Rockingham]

I recall well the importance of satellite film capsules of that era and read about it in Aviation Week.

The plot of the 1968 movie Ice Station Zebra turned on competing US and Soviet efforts during the Cold War to recover such a film capsule that had gone astray in the arctic.

Here's a fun story. Although Ice Station Zebra was a commercial flop and had a mixed reception from the critics, Howard Hughes was a big fan.

In his penthouse room in a Las Vegas hotel, in the middle of the night Hughes would sometimes call the local ABC affiliate that he owned and tell them to put on Ice Station Zebra -- almost every night, and sometimes more than once a night.

[llevrok]

The launch and booster landing were successful and on time.

Every time I see the booster landings, I am amazed. Almost out of Hollywood computer generated graphics

[Samurai_Jack]

orbital warehousing?!

Awesome!!

[FrankRizzo890]

YES! Me too! The math and physics all being calculated in real time to make it happen, repeatedly, and right on cue, is amazing.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Great story about Hughes!

My Dad worked at Hughes Aircraft in LA around 1954-1956. Mom and Dad HATED LA and moved back to New York State. I was a wee lad at the time.

Did you ever hear about the disposable Mach 3+ drone, the "D-21" that was carried on the back of an SR-71 and launch in the air? Its film canister was jettisoned after over-flying enemy territory and snagged mid-air by another aircraft. The drone was supposed to then self-destruct.

It was 43 feet of titanium and composite wrapped around a Marquardt RJ43-MA-11 ramjet—designed to ride piggyback on a modified A-12 spy plane (called the M-21), launch at supersonic speed, fly a pre-programmed route over enemy territory, eject its camera film for mid-air retrieval. After the film package was jettisoned, the drone self-destructed. The recovery aircraft was typically a C-130 transport.

The D-21 was used in four operational missions over Communist China under the code name "Senior Bowl," but the results were disappointing. The first drone strayed off course and crashed in Soviet Siberia—handing Moscow an unexpected look at some of America's most advanced technology; the second flew its route but the film canister was lost at sea; the third's film sank during a botched sea recovery; and the fourth crashed in China's Yunnan province, where its wreckage is displayed to this day. In 1971 the United States Air Force canceled the program and the remaining aircraft of the total 38 produced were put in storage.

You can see one at the Blackbird Air Park outdoor museum in Palmdale, CA.

[rlmorel]

This is fascinating. I had not even been considering these things.

A Special Forces team could be inserted in short hours (or even minutes) rather than days because of some fast developing situation (such as an Embassy takeover or pending takeover) with a reentry vehicle which could be exited once the chutes are deployed and the team could navigate via parasails directly to a specific spot.

Things like that.

[citizen]

These disks are not intended for human cargo, which would raise the cost exponentially. Simple 1000kg cargo drops.

Point to point personnel transport is a good ways off and would remain expensive, in any event.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks all!

[ProtectOurFreedom]

There are other manned rapid-insertion programs such as you suggest.

But StarFall is meant to ramp up manufacturing capability in space. The whole program will combine the heavy lift capabilities, in-orbit refueling, in-orbit manufacturing of silicon wafers, return of wafers to earth (StarFall re-entry vehicle), and lift of solar-powered AI satellites to orbit. At least that is what is being told to the public!

[rlmorel]

Indeed! Very good points, FRiend! Very good points!

[rlmorel]

You make quite valid points, but in my opinion, much of that extra cost would be due to life support.

Those would be in the areas of pressurization and respiration, but in the military, where they have highly trained personnel who can wear individual life support systems, and are willing to take higher risks, I could see how it could be done with specialized modules.

It absolutely would never be used on a large scale personnel-wise in the military, but I can foresee them looking at ways to do it.