Film of Starlink satellites lined up flying around the Earth

Michael Nicolls, Vice President of Starlink Engineering at SpaceX, posted on X a 3.5-minute video revealing the view from one of the 29 satellites launched into orbit on May 1 with a Falcon 9 rocket from the Florida Space Coast.

“Watch the Starlink satellites fly around an orbit, passing through dawn and dusk, slowly separating from each other in the deployment sequence after launch and then starting to raise their orbit. The satellites are inherently stacked like a deck of cards in a rocket. The rocket will slowly rotate when releasing the satellite to create a small velocity difference, ensuring they do not collide,” Nicolls explained.

SpaceX has released images of Starlink satellites in orbit, but often before they are deployed, still stacked inside the upper stage of the Falcon 9 rocket. Nicolls’ video offers a more novel perspective, allowing observations of multiple satellites making their initial journey around the Earth.

Space said that Starlink is the largest satellite network ever built in orbit, with about 10,300 satellites and counting. SpaceX has carried out 53 Falcon 9 launches from the beginning of 2026 until now, including 43 flights for Starlink. Although it creates a useful communications infrastructure, Starlink also makes astronomical observations difficult, increases space debris and increases the risk of collisions in space.

Theo Interesting Engineeringastronomer Jonathan McDowell at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics recorded an average of 1-2 Starlink satellites falling out of orbit every day in 2025. According to him, the number could increase to about 5 satellites per day as SpaceX continues to expand the global Starlink network.

Although the Starlink satellite falling out of orbit does not pose a direct threat to humans, researchers are examining whether atmospheric combustion could have more complicated consequences. Pollutants such as aluminum oxide particles released during atmospheric re-entry can affect the chemical composition and temperature of the upper atmosphere. Initial modeling suggests the long-term impact could be larger than previously predicted.