SpaceX Launched Its First Two Missions of 2026 this Weekend – Including COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation & Starlink
SpaceX launched its first two missions of 2026 - COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation & Starlink - on January 2nd and January 4th, respectively.
(Vandenberg, California & Cape Canaveral, Florida) SpaceX’s first two launches of the year took place this weekend, with the COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation mission taking off from Vandenberg Space Force Base on January 2nd at 6.09pm PT and a Starlink mission taking off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on January 4th at 1.48am ET.
Image from SpaceX's first launch of 2026, the COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation Mission for the Italian Space Agency and Italian Ministry of Defence, on January 2nd, courtesy of SpaceX on Instagram, @spacex.
Image from SpaceX's first launch of 2026, the COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation Mission for the Italian Space Agency and Italian Ministry of Defence, on January 2nd, courtesy of SpaceX on Instagram, @spacex.
Image from SpaceX's first launch of 2026, the COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation Mission for the Italian Space Agency and Italian Ministry of Defence, on January 2nd, courtesy of SpaceX on Instagram, @spacex.
SpaceX’s First Launch of 2026: COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation Mission
The COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation mission – SpaceX’s first launch of 2026 – carried a payload, a COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation Satellite – for the Italian Space Agency and Italian Ministry of Defence. The spacecraft will study Earth using synthetic aperture radar, gathering data at all times of day and in all weather conditions from an altitude of 385 miles (620 kilometers), according to Space.com.
Three COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation satellites have now launched to date, per Space.com; with the first one having flown on December 2019 atop a Soyuz rocket and the second having lifted off in January 2022 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation is a small network designed to "monitor the Earth for the sake of emergency prevention, strategy, scientific and commercial purposes, providing data on a global scale to support a variety of applications," according to a European Space Agency explainer.
Among those applications are "risk management, cartography, forest & environment protection, natural resources exploration, land management, defense and security, maritime surveillance, food & agriculture management,” per the explainer document.
SpaceX Second Launch of 2026: Starlink
Yesterday, on Sunday, January 4th at 1.48am ET, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launched 29 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in California.
Image from SpaceX’s second launch of 2026, which delivered 29 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit (LEO) on January 4th, courtesy of Spaceflight Photographer Michael Cain and The FLY Report.
The flight marked the first for the brand-new first stage booster supporting the mission, and, following stage separation, the first stage landed on the Just Read the Instructions droneship, which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean, per SpaceX.
The Starlink launch marked SpaceX’s 147th landing on Just Read the Instructions and the 555th booster landing to date, according to SpaceFlight Now.
Additionally, it marked SpaceX’s first Starlink mission since one of SpaceX’s satellites in orbit was knocked down in an incident on December 17, 2025, per SpaceFlight Now.
Image from SpaceX’s second launch of 2026, which delivered 29 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit (LEO) on January 4th, courtesy of Spaceflight Photographer Michael Cain and The FLY Report.
The January 4th Starlink mission was originally scheduled to launch on Dec. 19, but was delayed after SpaceX lost contact with Starlink satellite number 35956 – which was launched on Nov. 23, 2025 from Vandenberg – per SpaceFlight Now.
SpaceX’s annual progress report published just after the new year said that the company closed out 2025 with more than nine million global customers across 155 countries and markets, and that it had added more than 35 new markets and 4.6 million new customers during 2025 alone, per SpaceFlight Now.
In 2025, according to SpaceFlight Now, SpaceX launched 122 Falcon 9 rockets carrying Starlink satellites onboard, deploying 3,168 into low Earth orbit (among those were 286 that supported the Direct to Cell component of the constellation).
