SpaceX rocket launch today from California: What time is liftoff, where to see Falcon 9
SpaceX is preparing to deploy yet another batch of Starlink satellites into orbit three nights after another launch from Southern California.
Elon Musk's well-known commercial spaceflight company has a Falcon 9 rocket ready to lift off from the Vandenberg Space Force base to deliver 26 additional Starlink satellites into orbit. The impending liftoff comes on the heels of another Starlink delivery Friday, May 9 from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County.
For the upcoming launch, SpaceX's 230-foot Falcon 9 rocket will once again help deliver the payload of internet-beaming Starlink satellites for deployment into what's called low-Earth orbit – an altitude that allows for things like satellites to circle Earth fairly quickly.
Like most SpaceX launches, the liftoff will be livestreamed. But the rocket launch will also be widely visible for many spectators across both California and even neighboring Arizona.
Here's what to know about the launch, as well as when and where to watch it:
The launch window opens at 6:15 p.m. PT Monday, May 12, and lasts until 7:08 p.m., according to a launch alert from Vandenberg Space Force Base. If SpaceX opts to scrub the launch, backup opportunities are available beginning at 6:13 p.m. PT Tuesday, May 13.
The launch, using a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to deliver the Starlink satellites, will take place from Launch Complex 4E from Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County, California.
Following the delivery and deployment of the satellites, the Falcon 9 rocket's first stage 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.
Residents of Santa Barbara County, San Luis Obispo County and Ventura County could hear sonic booms, according to Vandenberg's alert.
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.
SpaceX said it will provide a livestream of the launch on its website beginning about five minutes before liftoff, along with updates on social media site X.
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 Vandenberg Space Force Base in Vandenberg, California, 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:
13th Street and Arguello Boulevard, the public site with the closest views of SpaceX launches
Floradale Avenue and West Ocean Avenue, officially designated as the 'viewing site for SLC-6' (space launch complex-6)
Renwick Avenue and West Ocean Avenue, another intersection close to the base where spectators can park
Santa Lucia Canyon Road and Victory Road, provides a partial view of Complex 4
Surf Beach on Ocean Avenue, the only location where the public can view the ignition and liftoff of rockets from Complex 4. Public access is at the Amtrak Surf Station parking area, but the area is closed in the case of back-to-back launches.
The city of Lompoc in Santa Barbara County is filled with places to catch a rocket launch. The city's tourism bureau, Explore Lompoc, has this list with additional viewing locations:
, 6851 Ocean Park Road, which, while it doesn't have a view of the launch pad itself, is located only four miles from the launch site and provides a good vantage to see rockets get off the ground. Parking is limited and law enforcement will close the road to the beach once parking is full.
, One Hancock Drive, a community college located nine miles from the launch site where both the launch pad and rocket's tip can be seen before liftoff.
, N A St & McLaughlin Road, located within 10 miles of the launch site, is filled with large fields for activities or for spectators to set up chairs.
Space Exploration Technologies Corp., more widely known as SpaceX, is an astronautics company owned and co-founded by Elon Musk, the world's richest man.
The commercial spaceflight company is contracted with NASA and the Department of Defense to use many of its spacecraft to help launch government missions. SpaceX also conducts many of its own rocket launches – most using its two-stage Falcon 9 rocket – including for private crewed missions and to deliver communication satellites to orbit.
Established in 1941, the Vandenberg Space Force Base, previously Vandenberg Air Force Base, is a site for both military, civil and commercial space launches.
Agencies like NASA and companies like SpaceX routinely launch spacecraft from Vandenberg, a site where where missile testing also takes place. Just recently, for instance, Texas spaceflight company Firefly Aerospace attempted to launch prototype satellites into orbit for Lockheed Martin from the base.
Owned by SpaceX founder Elon Musk, Starlink is a constellation of more than 6,700 satellites that provide internet service to customers around the world.
SpaceX, a commercial spaceflight company, has spent more than six years delivering the satellites to orbit with a regular cadence of rocket launches from 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.
Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: California rocket launch today: Where to see Vandenberg SpaceX liftoff
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