Following two scrubs the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off on schedule with 13 demonstration satellites for the U.S. military’s Space Development Agency (SDA) at 7:25 a.m. PDT (10:25 a.m. EDT / 1425 UTC)7:25 a.m. PDT (10:25 a.m. EDT / 1425 UTC).
The site’s location on the California coastline provides customers with access to high inclination and polar orbits, frequently used by satellite communication constellations, defense intelligence and Earth-observing satellites, and some lunar missions. Launches from Vandenberg heading straight south traverse open ocean all the way to the Antarctic, by which time the vehicles have long since reached orbit.
Following two scrubs, SpaceX launched on the third attempt with a batch of 13 communications and missile tracking satellites from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base on the Tranche 0 Flight 2 mission for the Space Development Agency (SDA) on Friday. An issue with engine 4 scrubbed the first attempt, and a ground valve issue scrubbed Friday’s attempt.
At the request of the Space Development agency SpaceX did not provide coverage of the second-stage portion of the flight. This is standard procedure for many national security missions.
The 13 demonstration satellites launched are for a future constellation of military missile tracking and data relay satellites. Ten satellites for the constellation were launched April 2 on a Falcon 9. Four more satellites are scheduled for launch on a later mission hosted by the Missile Defense Agency, according to an SDA fact sheet.
The Falcon 9 first-stage returned to successfully make a landing at Vandenberg.
SpaceX designs and builds its reusable rockets and spacecraft at its headquarters in Hawthorne, California. As a company, SpaceX is vertically integrated, building the vast majority of the vehicle on the Hawthorne campus. SpaceX headquarters remains one of the few facilities in the world where you can see an entire launch vehicle or spacecraft come together under one roof.
The SDA mission will be SpaceX’s 50th launch from Vandenberg. After conducting a total of 19 launches from SLC-4E from 2013 through 2021, the pace has picked up recently with 13 missions in 2022 and 17 flights already completed in 2023. This launch came after SpaceX launched its Starlink Group 6-13 mission on Thursday.