Falcon 9's last Florida Starlink mission dazzles with 'jellyfish' display
SpaceX launched 29 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral on Aug. 25, marking the 100th Falcon 9 flight of 2026 and a reuse record for the booster. It was also the final Falcon 9 Starlink mission from Florida, as future ones will use Starship. The predawn launch produced a glowing 'jellyfish' effect visible from New York City.
The Aug. 25 flight marked the 37th mission for that particular first-stage booster, extending SpaceX's own reuse benchmark. Company vice president Kiko Dontchev confirmed via social media that roughly 260 Falcon 9 Starlink missions had launched from Cape Canaveral over the past seven years, with West Coast operations continuing on Falcon 9 for now.
Starship, standing over 400 feet tall, has completed 13 suborbital test flights and currently launches only from South Texas. SpaceX is constructing Florida launch pads and announced plans to break ground on a Louisiana facility next year, signaling the gradual retirement of both Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy as Starship assumes the workload.
This transition could reshape how communities near launch sites experience space activity, as larger Starship launches may bring different noise and visibility patterns than Falcon 9 flights. Rural and coastal areas hosting new infrastructure could see economic shifts, while the continued expansion of Starlink may affect astronomy and night-sky viewing for casual observers. The milestone also signals accelerating commercial spaceflight, potentially influencing how ordinary people encounter rocket launches in daily life.