Liftoff ClubLook up together
ProCentennial, Colorado

SpaceX · Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A Falcon 9 lifts off from Vandenberg with the GRACE Follow-On spacecraft.
Photo by Bill Ingalls, NASA. Public domain. Source
Ready to fly

Falcon 9 Block 5 | USSF-317

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What this is

SpaceX is launching a Falcon 9 from Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA. The owner of the cargo has not said what is on board. Families can still watch the rocket fly. We just do not get to know the boxes inside.

SpaceX is flying a Falcon 9 from Space Launch Complex 4E, Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA. Mission: USSF-317. A classified mission for the United States Space Force. It is possibly a batch of classified satellites based on SpaceX’s Starshield satellite bus, based on locations of rocket stage drop zones being exact fits with previous Starlink Group 15 launches. Planned orbit: . Booster B1100, flight 11. The Falcon 9 B1100 will land on OCISLY after its 11th flight. Status: . Current confirmed by official or reliable sources. The published time can still slip. Rockets wait for weather, boats, and the range.

Story written from the public listing. A model key can be added later; none is required.

From here

Too far to see

You will not see this rocket from Centennial, Colorado. It is about 930 miles west. The broadcast is the view.

That is too far for the flame and, for almost every launch, too far for the high-altitude plume. Dim the lights and watch together anyway.

Timeline

Calls on the clock

  1. GO for Prop Load

    Launch director verifies go for load

  2. Prop Load

    Start of propelland loading

  3. Load

    Start of loading in the

  4. Load

    Start of loading in the

  5. Engine Chill

    Start of engine chilling

  6. Startup

    The onboard computer takes control over the countdown and runs last checks

  7. Tank Press

    Fuel tanks are pressurized to flight levels

  8. Launch director verifies

  9. Ignition

    Start of the engine ignition sequence

  10. First upwards movement of the rocket

  11. Maximum dynamic pressure

  12. Cut-off of the main engine

  13. Separation of the from the first

  14. First start of the second engine

  15. Separation of the payload

  16. Startup

    Start of the atmospheric

  17. Shutdown

    End of the atmospheric

  18. Burn

    Start of the

  19. Landing of the

All the space words

Space jobs corner

Who is on this flight

Every company we can name, in plain words, plus a careers page when we have a real one.

Careers links are public pages we know. If we do not have one, we do not invent it.

Ask about this launch

Only what the listing says

Questions stay with this launch. If a model key is configured on the server, the answer is cached. Without a key, the reply is taken straight from the record.

Put it on a calendar

So the slip still finds you

A single launch can be saved now. The subscribe feed, on the launches page, is the one that moves when a rocket slips. Calendar alarms do not know about bedtime quiet hours.