SpaceX lands Falcon 9 rocket in the Bahamas - VIDEO
SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9 rocket and returned its first-stage booster to a landing on a drone ship positioned among the islands of The Bahamas — marking only the second time the company has completed such a recovery in that region.
The Starlink 10-34 mission lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 8:41:40 p.m. EST (0141:40 UTC), carrying 29 Starlink satellites to orbit for SpaceX’s satellite internet constellation, News.Az reports, citing Space.com.
The 45th Weather Squadron had forecast a greater than 95% probability of favorable launch conditions, citing no significant weather concerns that would restrict liftoff.
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The mission used Falcon 9 first-stage booster B1077, marking its 26th flight. The booster previously supported missions including Crew-5, CRS-28 and NG-20.
Less than eight and a half minutes after launch, B1077 touched down on the autonomous drone ship “Just Read the Instructions,” stationed off the coast of Exuma in The Bahamas. The landing represented the 150th recovery on that vessel and SpaceX’s 573rd successful booster landing overall.
Falcon 9 lands on the Just Read the Instructions droneship off the coast of The Bahamas pic.twitter.com/h5Ju4ndXSj
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) February 20, 2026
It was one year ago this week that SpaceX first landed a booster within the territorial waters of The Bahamas during the Starlink 10-12 mission on Feb. 18, 2025.
In the lead up to that flight, SpaceX announced it was planning to use that first mission as a stepping stone to enabling a crewed mission to a polar orbit, which it eventually did with the flight called Fram2.
However, Fram2 did not feature a booster landing adjacent to The Bahamas. Reportedly, there was environmental concern on the part of the government of The Bahamas following the in-flight break-ups of SpaceX’s Starship rocket during Flight 7 and Flight 8 in 2025.
The two entities have since come to an understanding in the intervening time, paving the way for this second booster landing near the island nation.
By Nijat Babayev
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