Tag: Vandenberg Space Force Base

SpaceX Launches First Satellites Designed to Connect Directly to Smartphones

Space News reports that SpaceX “launched its first batch of Starlink satellites designed to connect directly to unmodified smartphones Jan. 2 after getting a temporary experimental license to start testing the capability in the United States.” Six of the 21 Starlink satellites “that launched on a Falcon 9 rocket at 10:44 p.m. Eastern from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, carry a payload that the company said could provide connectivity for most 4G LTE devices when in range.” SpaceX plans to “start enabling texting from space this year in partnership with cellular operators, with voice and data connectivity coming in 2025, although the company still needs regulatory permission to provide the services commercially.” Initial direct-to-smartphone tests “would use cellular spectrum from SpaceX’s US mobile partner T-Mobile.” SpaceX has also “partnered with mobile operators in Australia, Canada, Chile, Japan, New Zealand, and Switzerland.”
Full Story (Space News)

 

Video

SpaceX 1st Starlink to Cell Sat Launch, 10:44 p.m. ET, from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California
(The Launch Pad; YouTube)

SpaceX Launches 23 More Starlink Satellites from California

SPACE reports, “SpaceX launched 23 more of its Starlink internet satellites from California on Monday (March 11), in the second leg of a spaceflight doubleheader.“ SpaceX’s Falcon 9 lifted off at 12:09 a.m. EDT from Vandenberg Space Force Base carrying the Starlink payload.
Full Story (SPACE)

 

 

 

 

Videos

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches 23 Starlink satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base at 12:09 a.m. EDT on March 11, 2024
(VideoFromSpace; YouTube)

SpaceX Launches Starlinks from East Coast, 10th Rideshare Mission from West Coast On Same Day

Aviation Week reports, “SpaceX completed a pair of overlapping Falcon 9 missions on March 4.”  One mission launched 23 Starlink satellites into orbit from Florida, while another, Transporter-10, launched from the West Coast on a mission to deploy rideshare satellites.  According to the report, “the launches occurred at 5:05 p.m. and 6:56 p.m. EST from Vandenberg’s SFB’s Space Launch Complex 4 East and Cape Canaveral SFS’s Space Launch Complex 40, respectively.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)

 

Videos

SpaceX Falcon 9 launches Transporter-10 rideshare mission
(VideoFromSpace; YouTube)


SpaceX Starlink 143 launch and Falcon 9 first stage landing, 4 March 2024
(SciNews; YouTube)

SpaceX Falcon 9 Launches 22 Starlink Satellites from West Coast

Spaceflight Now reports, “A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from the West Coast with another batch of 22 Starlink satellites at 8:11 p.m. PST Thursday (11:11 p.m. EST / 0411 UTC).” The Starlink 7-15 mission launched from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.  The article notes that the first stage booster, tail number 1061, “was making its 19th flight, which ties the record previously set by booster 1058 before it was lost during recovery operations following a successful launch and landing.”
Full Story (Spaceflight Now)

 

Video

SpaceX Falcon 9 Launches 22 Starlink Satellites from West Coast
(VideoFromSpace; YouTube)

SpaceX Falcon 9 Marks 175th Flight from Cape Canaveral

Spaceflight Now reports “SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Monday evening with 23 Starlink satellites on board,” marking the 175th SpaceX launch “from its workhorse pad to date.”
Full Story (Spaceflight Now)

 

 

 

 

 

Videos

SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral
(Spaceflight Now; YouTube)

SpaceX Launches 22 More Starlink Satellites

Spaceflight Now reported that the first of two Falcon 9 missions SpaceX “is planning for Sunday carried into orbit the largest batch of second-generation Starlink satellites to be launched from the West Coast.” The Falcon 9 “lifted off from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 2 a.m. PDT (5 a.m. EDT / 0900 UTC) with 22 satellites aboard.” The California launch “will be followed on Sunday by another Starlink delivery mission carrying 23 satellites, which will launch from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 7:45 p.m. EDT (2345 UTC).” The Starlink 7-6 mission “was the first time a Falcon 9 has carried 22 of the so-called V2 Mini satellites from the West Coast.” Previously, missions from there “had been limited to 15 or 21 Starlinks, depending on the orbit.” On the East Coast, a Falcon 9 “launched 23 V2 Minis a week ago on Oct. 21, one more than the previous maximum load for a mission from the Cape.”
Full Story (Spaceflight Now)

 

Video

SpaceX launches 22 Starlink satellites from Vandenberg, Oct. 29, 2023 at 5 a.m. EDT
(VideoFromSpace; YouTube)

SpaceX Launches Bicoastal Missions Putting 124 Payloads into Orbit

CBS News reports that in a Monday doubleheader, SpaceX “launched 52 Starlink internet satellites from Florida and then fired off another Falcon 9 from California, putting 72 small payloads from multiple vendors into orbit in the company’s eighth low-cost ‘rideshare’ mission.” The Florida-based mission launched 52 Starlink satellites into orbit from Cape Canaveral in a pre-dawn flight to bring the company’s satellite constellation total to 4,595. The Transporter 8 mission “took off from Vandenberg Space Force Base northwest of Los Angeles at 5:35 p.m. EDT, carrying 72 rideshare payloads provided by multiple vendors and launch brokers.” Transporter missions are “intended to provide low-cost access to space for small payloads that might otherwise have to wait for rides on missions dedicated to larger satellites.” SpaceX “charges $275,000 for a 110-pound payload, and $5,500 for each additional 2.2 pounds.”
Full Story (CBS News)

SpaceX to Use Second Vandenberg Launch Pad for Falcon Rockets

Space News reports SpaceX is adding a second West Coast launch pad after receiving “approval to lease Space Launch Complex 6 (SLC-6) at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, a historic site previously occupied by United Launch Alliance.” Space Force unit Space Launch Delta 30 announced this week that SpaceX will use the location to launch Falcon rockets. SpaceX is expanding its “operations at Vandenberg…following a period of extraordinary growth fueled by commercial launch demand and the deployment of its Starlink internet mega-constellation.”
Full Story (Space News)

SpaceX Launches Transporter 7 Rideshare Mission

Space News reported that SpaceX launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California a Falcon 9 on the Transporter-7 mission, carrying more than 50 satellites. Its largest payload was “the 800-kilogram IMECE imaging satellite built by Turkish research institute Tübitak Uzay.” Spaceflight Now reported the payload included “CubeSats, microsatellites, hosted payloads, and orbital transfer vehicles.”
Full Story (Space News); More Info (Spaceflight Now)

 

Video

Transporter-7 Mission
SpaceX launched Transporter-7, the company’s seventh dedicated smallsat rideshare program mission, atop a Falcon 9, Friday, April 14 at 11:48 p.m. PT, from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
(SpaceX; YouTube)

SpaceX to Make Three Launches this Weekend

Spaceflight Now reports that SpaceX “teams in Florida and California are preparing for three missions from three launch pads in three days, beginning Friday with a launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida with a reusable Falcon 9 booster flying for a record 13th time.” Friday’s flight will “deploy 53 more Starlink internet satellites, followed by a launch Saturday from Vandenberg Space Force Base with a German military radar observation satellite, then another mission from Cape Canaveral early Sunday with a commercial Globalstar messaging and data relay spacecraft.” The rapid-fire launch schedule “would mark the fastest sequence of flights by SpaceX since the company’s founding.”
Full Story (Spaceflight Now)

SpaceX Falcon 9 Launches 23 Starlink Satellites from California

Spaceflight Now reports, “SpaceX launched its latest batch of Starlink satellites from California during a Falcon 9 flight Friday morning. Liftoff of the Starlink 11-6 mission from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) happened at 6:07 a.m. PST (9:07 a.m. EST, 1407 UTC).”
Full Story (Spaceflight Now)

 

 

 

Video

SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches 23 Starlink satellites from Vandenberg  (Launch at 18:59 mark)
(NASASpaceflight; YouTube)

SpaceX Launches its 450th Falcon 9, Sets New Record for Booster Turnaround Time

Spaceflight Now reports, “The National Reconnaissance Office launched its eighth batch of satellites to support its proliferated architecture constellation. The mission includes a number of notable milestones for SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket program, including a record-fast turnaround time for its booster. The rocket carried an unspecified number of satellites that are believed to be Starshield, a government variant of the Starlink satellites that are built by SpaceX in partnership with Northrop Grumman. This was SpaceX’s 450th Falcon 9 launch to date.”
Full Story (Spaceflight Now)



Video

SpaceX launches a Falcon 9 for 450th time (Launch occurs at 32:38)
(Spaceflight Now; YouTube)

SpaceX Falcon 9 Launches 70+ Payloads in Transporter-13 Mission

Space News reports, “A SpaceX Falcon 9 launched more than 70 payloads in the latest in its series of dedicated rideshare missions that have reshaped the small satellite industry. The Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 2:43 a.m. Eastern March 15 on the Transporter-13 mission. SpaceX said Transporter-13 carried 74 payloads, including hosted payloads and satellites that will be deployed later from an orbital transfer vehicle by D-Orbit. SpaceX’s website listed 47 separate deployments planned over 90 minutes.”
Full Story (Space News)

 

Video

SpaceX Transporter 13 Launch
(The Launch Pad; YouTube)

SpaceX Falcon 9 Launches with 21 Communications Satellites for Space Development Agency

SPACE reports SpaceX launched 21 satellites for an advanced new U.S. military constellation this evening (Oct. 15). A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base “today at 7:06 p.m. EDT (2306 GMT; 4:06 p.m. local California time), on a mission for the Space Development Agency (SDA).”
Full Story (SPACE)

Video

Falcon 9 Launches with 21 Communications Satellites (Launch occurs at the 17:13 mark)
Space Affairs; YouTube

SpaceX Pulls Off Dual-Coast Starlink Launch Doubleheader

SpaceX launched two Falcon 9 rockets Wednesday, each carrying Starlink satellites, one from Kennedy Space Center in Florida and another from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. As SPACE reports, “First up was a Falcon 9 rocket carrying 29 of the broadband internet relay units (Group 6-99) into low Earth orbit from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The satellites were successfully deployed about an hour and five minutes after the 8:42 a.m. EST (1342 GMT) liftoff … Then came 27 more Starlink satellites (Group 15-13), riding atop a Falcon 9 rocket launched from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Lifting off at 10:27 a.m. EST”
Full Story (SPACE – videos)