A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is set to launch the CAS500-2 Korean Aerospace Research Institute mission from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base Sunday morning.
This is a return-to -base landing and nearby residents should expect to hear one or more sonic booms approximately 8–10 minutes after liftoff as the Falcon 9 first stage returns to base and lands at Landing Zone 4 at Vandenberg.
Liftoff is targeted between Saturday at 11:59 p.m. and Sunday, May 3, at 12:36 a.m. If needed, there is a backup opportunity on Sunday, May 3 with the same window, SpaceX reported.
There is also a possibility of one or more sonic booms heard by residents in Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Ventura counties during the launch, depending on weather and other conditions, officials said.
The CAS500-2 mission will carry the Compact Advanced Satellite 500-2 (CAS500-2), an earth imaging satellite, into a sun-synchronous orbit for the Korean Aerospace Research Institute.
Base officials said launch timing is based off orbital requirements essential to inserting the payload in a sun-synchronous orbit.
According to SpaceX, there are 45 payloads on board this mission for KAI, Argotec S.r.l, Exolaunch, Impulso.Space, Loft-EarthDaily, Lynk Global, True Anomaly, and Planet Labs.
This will be the 33rd flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission which previously launched NROL-87, NROL-85, SARah-1, SWOT, Transporter-8, Transporter-9, NROL-146, Bandwagon-2, NROL-153, NROL-192, Transporter-14, Transporter-15, and 20 Starlink missions.
Lisa André covers lifestyle and local news for the Santa Ynez Valley News and Lompoc Record, editions of the Santa Maria Times. She can be reached at landre@syvnews.com