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Where to see SpaceX rocket

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Where to see SpaceX rocket

Where to see SpaceX rocket

USA, Featured18 hours ago2 Views

SpaceX, founded by billionaire Elon Musk, is planning to launch its Falcon 9 rocket on a mission to deploy a batch of Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit.

A Federal Aviation Administration operations plan advisory suggests the launch is being targeted for Wednesday, July 30.
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.
Launches can be – and often are – scrubbed or delayed due to any number of factors.

Update: The Vandenberg Space Force Base has announced that the launch window has been postponed and liftoff is now targeted for 9:25 a.m. PT Thursday, 31.

Want to catch a rocket launch before July is out?

The fifth and final SpaceX rocket launch of the month in California could be taking place as early as Wednesday, July 30, from the Vandenberg Space Force Base. And like all but one spaceflight in July from Santa Barbara County, the mission is a Starlink satellite deployment.

The commercial spaceflight company founded by billionaire Elon Musk is planning to launch its Falcon 9 rocket on a brief mission to deploy a batch of the internet-beaming satellites into low-Earth orbit.

And as expected, liftoff could be visible across the Southern California coast.

As you make your rocket viewing plans, though, keep this in mind: Launches can be – and often are – scrubbed or delayed due to any number of factors, including poor weather conditions or unexpected issues with spacecraft. Check back with the VC Star for any updates on the impending rocket launch.

In the meantime, here’s what to know about the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base, as well as when and where to watch it:

What time is the SpaceX rocket launch from California?

The launch is being targeted for 11:39 a.m. PT Wednesday, July 30, according to a launch alert from the Vandenberg Space Force Base.

A Federal Aviation Administration operations plan advisory suggests there are backup opportunities available the next day, if needed.

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. Most launches from Vandenberg fly at a south or southeast trajectory.

What is the next mission launching from Vandenberg?

The spaceflight will make use of the company’s famous two-stage 230-foot Falcon 9 rocket, one of the world’s most active, to deliver 19 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

SpaceX will provide a webcast of the Starlink launch on its website beginning about five minutes before liftoff, along with updates on social media site X.

Where to watch the Starlink launch 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:

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

The city of Lompoc in Santa Barbara County is filled with places to catch a rocket launch. The city’s tourism bureau, Explore Lompoc, even maintains this list with additional viewing locations:

Ocean Park, 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.
Allan Hancock College, 1 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.
Riverbend Park, N A Street and McLaughlin Road, located within 10 miles of the launch site, is filled with large fields for activities or for spectators to set up chairs.
Surf Beach on Ocean Avenue, one of the closest and most popular places to watch rocket launches near Lompoc, as long as it’s open and accessible. But a word of caution: There is an active train track, the Amtrak Surf Station, that visitors must cross. While trains don’t run during launch windows, the vehicles could start up again with little warning if a liftoff is scrubbed.

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 reentry

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.

SpaceX conducts many of its own rocket launches, most using the Falcon 9 rocket, from both California and Florida. That includes a regular cadence of deliveries of Starlink internet satellites into orbit, and occasional privately-funded commercial crewed missions on the Dragon.

The most recent of SpaceX’s private human spaceflights, a mission known as Fram2, took place in April. SpaceX was also famously involved in funding and operating the headline-grabbing Polaris Dawn crewed commercial mission in September 2024.

SpaceX additionally benefits from billions of dollars in contracts from NASA and the Department of Defense by providing launch services for classified satellites and other payloads.

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.

This article has been updated to add new information.

Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com