The Space Force approved SpaceX’s request to increase its launch rate at Vandenberg Air Force Base and add a second launch site, SLC-6. This new pad will feature the ability to launch both Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, the latter being a first for California.
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For the last couple of years, SpaceX has been shaving hours off its booster turnaround timelines. This has turned months-long turnarounds into weeks; last week, SpaceX finally got that timeline down to just nine days! The company also just recently broke a launch pad turnaround timeline as well.
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Before the year is out, SpaceX will have launched 138 rockets in 2024, the vast majority out of the busiest spaceport in the world, Cape Canaveral. With the need to fit more Starlink missions into its manifest, it turned to the quiet spaceport of Vandenberg, where it launched 46 Falcon 9s, a new record.
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SpaceX plans to launch about 50 rockets from Vandenberg Space Force Base in 2024 with a chance of 100 launches in the year 2025. This comes to a spaceport that has historically seem launches in the single digits. Now, it could soon see a launch for SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket in the next few years.
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Space Launch Delta 30, the unit tasked with operating the Western Range, has granted a lease to the historic Space Launch Complex 6 out at Vandenberg Space Force Base to SpaceX. This brings SpaceX’s total launch sites to five, with SLC-6 being the company’s second West Coast pad.
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On Monday, SpaceX plans to launch their first operational batch of Starlink satellites from their launch complex out of Vandenberg Space Force Base. While the official name of this mission is Starlink 2-1 the launch will not carry the 2.0 variants we’ve been waiting for. Instead, these will be 1.5 version satellites and the 2 refers to the “group 2” of Starlink satellites.
This will be the first SpaceX launch from the west coast since Sentinel 6 in November 2020. This will also be the first full batch of Starlink satellites to launch into a polar orbit. Starlink 2-1 will host the first use of the droneship Of Course I Still Love you on the west coast.
Date: Monday, September 13th, 11:55 p.m. EDT
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ULA’s next mission and first of 2021, NROL-82 is a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office and is launching on top of the large Delta IV Heavy rocket. This will end up being the first launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base, the prime spaceport for polar launches.
Date: Monday, April 26, 4:47 PM EDT
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On April 12th, Firefly Aerospace shared photos of their first Alpha rocket going vertical on the launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force base, and today they shared a timelapse of the lift.
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Firefly Aerospace is nearing its inaugural flight. Firefly’s first Alpha rocket, which arrived at Vandenberg in November, is now vertical on the launch in preparation for a static fire and launch.
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SpaceX has had launch sites on both coasts for years, Florida for most launches has been the primary location for customers to get their payloads into space. On the west coast, Vandenberg Air Force Base in California offers a specialized launch site for missions that require polar orbits.
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A new job posting from SpaceX has revealed that the private space company is looking for a Launch Site Mission Manager for Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. This is likely a sign that SpaceX expects to undertake many more launches from this site in the future.
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SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from its west coast launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Saturday. The mission included a scientific payload for NASA, NOAA, and ESA called Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich. “The spacecraft is named after Dr. Michael Freilich, the former director of NASA’s Earth Science Division and a tireless advocate for advancing satellite measurements of the ocean,” according to NASA.
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