A video captured by a newly launched SpaceX Starlink satellite shows us what it’s like to zoom above our beautiful blue planet.
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Screenshot from a video captured by a SpaceX Starlink satellite shortly after its deployment into space on May 1, 2026. (Image credit: SpaceX/Starlink/Michael Nicolls)
“The satellites are stacked like a deck of cards in the rocket, which slowly spins when dispensing to impart a small velocity difference, ensuring deconfliction. May the @Starlink be with you,” he added.
That last sentence was likely a nod to the fact that he posted the video on Star Wars Day (May 4, from “May the Force be with you”).
SpaceX has shown us Starlink satellites in orbit before, but those views have generally been pre-deployment, focused on spacecraft still stacked on their Falcon 9 rocket’s upper stage.
This video is something new, especially because it shows multiple members of the 29-satellite train and tracks a substantial part of their initial journey around Earth.
That said, lots of Starlink satellites have gotten this view to date. The Starlink megaconstellation — by far the biggest spacecraft network ever assembled — currently consists of more than 10,300 satellites.
And it’s growing all the time. SpaceX has launched 53 Falcon 9 missions so far in 2026, and 43 of them have been Starlink flights.