SpaceX launches 24 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg SFB
SpaceX launches 24 Starlink satellites its latest batch of Starlink V2 Mini satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Friday.
The Starlink 17-6 mission will add another 24 satellites to the low Earth orbit constellation. With a successful completion of this mission, SpaceX will have launched more than 1,800 of its Starlink satellites in 2025 alone. In a social media post, SpaceX confirmed deployment of the satellites a little over an hour after launch.
Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East occurred at 10:04 a.m. PDT (1:04 p.m. EDT / 1704 UTC). It will be the 27th Starlink launch from Vandenberg this year.
SpaceX used the Falcon 9 first stage booster tail number B1081 to launch this mission, its 17th flight. Its previous launches included NASA’s PACE, NASA’s TRACERS and Crew-7.
Nearly 8.5 minutes after liftoff, B1081 landed on the droneship, ‘Of Course I Still Love You.’ This was the 146th booster landing on that vessel and the 491st booster landing to date
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When is the next rocket launch from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California?
SpaceX is working toward a Friday, Aug. 22, launch of its Falcon 9 rocket from the Vandenberg Space Force Base. The four-hour launch window opens at 8:44 a.m. PT, according to the company’s website.
A Federal Aviation Administration operations plan advisory suggests backup opportunities are available the next day if liftoff is postponed.
Where is the next launch from California?
The launch will take place from Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County, California. Most launches from Vandenberg fly at a south or southeast trajectory.
What is the next mission launching from Vandenberg in California?
SpaceX will launch its famous two-stage 230-foot Falcon 9 rocket, one of the world’s most active, to deliver 24 Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit.
The altitude is low enough to allow for things like satellites to circle Earth fairly quickly.
How to watch SpaceX Starlink launch livestream?
As with most SpaceX missions, the launch will be available to stream on the company’s website beginning about five minutes before liftoff. SpaceX may also provide updates on social media site X.
Where to watch rocket launches in California
Because Vandenberg is an active military base, the launch complex does not host public viewings of launches.
But if conditions are clear, rocket launches from the Vandenberg Space Force Base can be viewed from several locations as far as Santa Barbara and Los Angeles.
Space Launch Schedule, a website dedicated to tracking upcoming rocket launches, provided a list of places in California to catch the launch in person:
Will there be sonic booms?
Residents of Santa Barbara County, San Luis Obispo County and Ventura County could hear sonic booms, according to Vandenberg Space Force Base.
Sonic booms are brief, thunder-like noises that are often heard from the ground when a spacecraft or aircraft travels faster than the speed of sound.
What to know about re-entry
Following the launch, the Falcon 9 rocket’s booster will aim to land on a SpaceX drone ship, nicknamed “Of Course I Still Love You,” in the Pacific Ocean. This allows for SpaceX personnel to recover the booster so it can be reused in future spaceflights.
What is SpaceX?
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, founded SpaceX in 2002.
The commercial spaceflight company is headquartered at Starbase in South Texas near the U.S.-Mexico border. The site, which is where SpaceX has been conducting routine flight tests of its 400-foot megarocket known as Starship, was recently voted by residents to become its own city.
What is Starlink?
Owned by Musk, Starlink is a constellation of nearly 8,000 satellites that provide internet service to customers around the world. SpaceX has spent more than six years delivering the satellites to orbit with a regular cadence of rocket launches from both Florida and California.
While most satellite internet services operate from single geostationary satellites orbiting Earth at about 22,236 miles, Starlink is a constellation of thousands of satellites that operate from a low-Earth orbit, about 341 miles up. That allows Starlink’s satellites to have lower latency and data time between user and the satellite, improving performance of things like streaming, online gaming and video calls.
Residential plans for Starlink services start at $80 per month.
What is the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California?
The Vandenberg Space Force Base is a rocket launch site in Santa Barbara County in Southern California.
Established in 1941, the site was previously known as the Vandenberg Air Force Base. Though it’s a military base, the site also hosts both civil and commercial space launches for entities like NASA and SpaceX.
Space Launch Delta 30, a unit of Space Force, is responsible for managing the launch operations at Vandenberg, as well as the missile tests that take place at the base.
