SPACE VIEW PARK, TITUSVILLE, FL – Under windy conditions and hazy afternoon skies spectators were treated to another SpaceX Starlink blastoff from Florida’s Space Coast
The rapid fire cadence of SpaceX launches from last years record setting pace in 2025 is continuing into the first month of 2026 and is expected to continue all year long.
The veteran SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket rumbled to the delight of the roaring crowd gathered along the Indian River Lagoon as the flight headed off into partly cloudy skies on a southeasterly trajectory – and a long exhaust plume seen overhead
Liftoff of the SpaceX Falcon 9 Starlink 6-97 mission took place near sunset at 4:08 p.m. EST (2108 UTC) on Jan. 12. from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
Overall this counts as the 3rd Florida Space Coast launch of 2026 and 5th overall for SpaceX following the record breaking launch cadence of 2025 with hosted 109 liftoffs – mostly from SpaceX.
Enjoy our photos from the Space UpClose with Ken Kremer at Space View Park in Titusville, FL
The Space Force which runs the Eastern range as Space Launch Delta 45 expects another record shattering year with perhaps 120 or more liftoffs – featured perhaps the inaugural launches of one of more new rockets at new and/or refurbished/rebuilt pads
The payload comprises 29 Starlink V2 Mini Optimized broadband internet satellites launched to low-Earth orbit on a recycled Falcon 9 on its 25th mission to space and back
The Falcon first stage booster is tail number B1078.25
This was the 25th flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched Crew-6, SES O3b mPOWER-B, USSF-124, BlueBird 1-5, Nusantara Lima (PSN N5), and now 20 Starlink missions.
Following stage separation, the first stage landed on the Just Read the Instructions (JRTI) droneship – which was prepositioned near The Bahamas in the Atlantic Ocean.
This marks he 148th landing on JRTI and the 558th booster landing for SpaceX to date.
Last month in Dec. 2025 we witnessed 3 Falcon 9 liftoffs while cruising in the Caribbean which all launched on a similar south-easterly trajectory.
See our prior stories and photos.
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