CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · General Reference

List of Starlink and Starshield launches

Wikimedia list article

Cross-disciplinary reference desk with index cards, atlas, dictionary and catalogue
General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 24, 2026
Entity authorityQ134304362 ↗
Source-derived summary

Starlink is a satellite internet constellation operated by SpaceX providing satellite Internet access to most of the Earth.

Starshield is a classified derivative of Starlink designed to be operated for, and which can host payloads for, military or government purposes.

Falcon 9 launches

Starlink launches

The deployment of the first 1,440 satellites will be into 72 orbital planes of 20 satellites each, with a requested lower minimum elevation angle of beams to improve reception: 25° rather than the 40° of the other two orbital shells. SpaceX launched the first 60 satellites of the constellation in May 2019 into a 450 km (280 mi) orbit and expected up to six launches in 2019 at that time, with 720 satellites (12 × 60) for continuous coverage in 2020.

In August 2019, SpaceX expected four more launches in 2019 and at least nine launches in 2020, but since January 2020 expectations had increased to 24 total launches in 2020.

In March 2020, SpaceX reported producing six satellites per day.

In February 2021, Musk stated that the satellites are traveling on 25 orbital planes clustered between 53° north and south of the equator.

Totals

As of 6 September 2026:

Satellites launched: 12,935

Satellites failed or deorbited: 1,803

Satellites in orbit: 11,147

Satellites working: 11,132

Satellites operational: 9,803

Starshield

Starship launches

Starlink launches

SpaceX envisions to launch larger and more capable Starlink satellites on Starship, a rocket with a much larger payload capacity that is under development.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “List of Starlink and Starshield launches” as wikimedia list article. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around List, Starlink and Starshield.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2019, 2020, 2021, 2026—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with List, Starlink and Starshield providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “List of Starlink and Starshield launches”, the useful work is to connect “wikimedia list article” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q134304362. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2026.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “List of Starlink and Starshield launches”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow List of Starlink and Starshield launches primary sources, List of Starlink and Starshield launches archive and List research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “List of Starlink and Starshield launches”?
  2. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
  3. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “List of Starlink and Starshield launches” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.