California residents have one more chance to catch a rocket launch before August is out.
SpaceX, the commercial rocket company founded by billionaire Elon Musk, is planning to conduct another Starlink satellite deployment from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in Southern California. The missions, using SpaceX’s famous Falcon 9 rocket, are by far the most common from the Santa Barbara County launch site.
And because the launch window appears to be scheduled for after sunset, as of Thursday, Aug. 28, the spacecraft should be widely visible soaring over California and even neighboring Arizona.
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But a word of caution: August has already been marked by a series of scrubs and delays at Vandenberg. Postponements due to weather or issues with rockets are common with spaceflight, so keep that in mind as you make your rocket launch-viewing plans.
Check back with the VC Star for any updates on the impending 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 is the Vandenberg Space Force Base? 4 things to know about California rocket launches
When is the next rocket launch from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California?
SpaceX is working toward a Friday, Aug. 29, launch of its Falcon 9 rocket from the Vandenberg Space Force Base. The four-hour launch window opens at 10:05 p.m. PT, according to the company’s website.
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, California. Most launches from Vandenberg fly at a south or southeast trajectory.
What is the next mission launching from Vandenberg? SpaceX to deploy Starlink satellites
SpaceX will launch its famous two-stage 230-foot Falcon 9 rocket, one of the world’s most active, to deliver 24 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
As with most SpaceX missions, the launch will be available to stream on the company’s website and its new X TV mobile app, beginning about five minutes before liftoff. SpaceX may also provide updates on social media site X.
Where to watch rocket launches 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.
Other cities in California where you might glimpse the Falcon 9 rocket soaring overhead as it climbs into the sky on a southern trajectory include:
Long Beach, a city popular with tourists known for its waterfront attractions, located about 180 south of the launch site along the southern coast of California.
Lake Forest, located about 200 miles south of the launch site along the southern coast of California.
San Diego, located about 280 miles south of the launch site along the southern coast of California.
Will there be sonic booms?
Residents of Santa Barbara County, San Luis Obispo County and Ventura County could hear sonic booms, according to SpaceX. No sonic boom should be heard over populated areas along the southern coast of California, Vandenberg added.
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 re-entry
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 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.
Starlink missions: Why does SpaceX launch Starlink satellites from California?
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.
Contributing: Jennifer Sangalang, USA TODAY Network
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 liftoff from Vandenberg