{"id":20574,"date":"2025-07-19T03:44:06","date_gmt":"2025-07-19T03:44:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/20574\/"},"modified":"2025-07-19T03:44:06","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T03:44:06","slug":"where-to-see-spacex-liftoff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/20574\/","title":{"rendered":"Where to see SpaceX liftoff"},"content":{"rendered":"

Elon Musk’s commercial spaceflight company could soon get another of its Falcon 9 rockets off the ground from the Vandenberg Space Force Base.<\/p>\n

\"play\"<\/p>\n

See SpaceX launch during MLB game at Dodger Stadium<\/p>\n

A view of the SpaceX Launch from Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Monday, June 16.<\/p>\n

The impending rocket launch is the latest SpaceX mission to deploy a batch of internet-beaming Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit.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.SpaceX will also provide a live webcast of the mission.<\/p>\n

SpaceX launches have come roaring back to life in Southern California after more than a two-week break<\/a>, giving space enthusiasts plenty of chances to once again catch a rocket soaring high above.<\/p>\n

The first of three upcoming SpaceX Starlink missions<\/a> got off the ground on the night of Tuesday, July 15<\/a>. Now, Elon Musk’s commercial spaceflight company could soon get another of its Falcon 9 rockets off the ground from the Vandenberg Space Force Base to deploy more of the internet-beaming satellites.<\/p>\n

Of course, not all Californians love all the spacecraft<\/a> routinely thundering overhead. But for those who want to experience the thrill of a launch, plenty of locations around the region may offer a worthwhile view.<\/p>\n

However, it’s important to keep in mind that rocket launches can be \u2013 and often are \u2013 scrubbed or delayed due to any number of factors, including poor weather conditions or unexpected issues with spacecraft. Check back with the VC Star<\/a> for any updates on the impending rocket launch.<\/p>\n

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:<\/p>\n

California rocket launches: SpaceX rocket launches have increased in California, and not all residents are happy<\/a><\/p>\n

What time is the SpaceX rocket launch from California?<\/p>\n

The launch is being targeted for 8:51 p.m. PT Friday, July 18, according to a launch alert<\/a> from the Vandenberg Space Force Base.<\/p>\n

If needed, additional launch opportunities are available starting at 9:26 p.m. PT Saturday, July 19.<\/p>\n

SpaceX Dragon landing: Axiom 4 mission becomes latest spaceflight to make splashdown off California coast<\/a><\/p>\n

Where is the next launch from California?<\/p>\n

The launch will take place from\u00a0Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base<\/a>\u00a0in Santa Barbara County. Most launches from Vandenberg fly at a south or southeast trajectory.<\/p>\n

What is the next mission launching from Vandenberg?<\/p>\n

The spaceflight will make use of the company’s famous two-stage 230-foot Falcon 9<\/a> rocket, one of the world’s most active, to deliver 24 Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit.<\/p>\n

The altitude is low enough to allow for things like satellites to circle Earth fairly quickly.<\/p>\n

How to watch SpaceX Starlink launch livestream<\/p>\n

SpaceX will provide a webcast of the Starlink launch on\u00a0its website <\/a>beginning about five minutes before liftoff, along with updates on\u00a0social media site X<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Where to watch the Starlink launch in California<\/p>\n

Because Vandenberg is an active military base, the launch complex does not host public viewings of launches.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Space Launch Schedule, a website dedicated to tracking upcoming rocket launches,\u00a0provided a list of places in California<\/a>\u00a0to catch the launch in person:<\/p>\n

13th Street and Arguello Boulevard, the public site with the closest views of SpaceX launchesFloradale Avenue and West Ocean Avenue, officially designated as the \u201cviewing site for SLC-6\u201d (space launch complex-6)Renwick Avenue and West Ocean Avenue, another intersection close to the base where spectators can parkSanta Lucia Canyon Road and Victory Road, provides a partial view of Complex 4Surf Beach on Ocean Avenue, the only location where the public can view the ignition and liftoff of rockets from Complex 4. \u00a0Public access is at the\u00a0Amtrak Surf Station parking area<\/a>, but the area is closed in the case of back-to-back launches.<\/p>\n

The city of Lompoc in Santa Barbara County is filled with places to catch a rocket launch. The city’s tourism bureau, Explore Lompoc,\u00a0even maintains this list<\/a>\u00a0with additional viewing locations:<\/p>\n

Ocean Park<\/a>, 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<\/a>, 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<\/a>, 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.Will there be sonic booms?<\/p>\n

Residents of Santa Barbara County, San Luis Obispo County and Ventura County, California, could hear sonic booms<\/a>, according to Vandenberg Space Force Base.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

What to know about reentry<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

What is SpaceX?<\/p>\n

Elon Musk<\/a>, the world’s richest man, founded SpaceX in 2002<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The commercial spaceflight company is\u00a0headquartered at Starbase<\/a>\u00a0in South Texas near the U.S.-Mexico border. The site, which is where SpaceX has been conducting routine flight tests\u00a0of its 400-foot megarocket known as Starship<\/a>, was recently voted by residents to become its own city.<\/p>\n

SpaceX conducts many of its own rocket launches, most using the Falcon 9 rocket, from both California <\/a>and Florida<\/a>. That includes a regular cadence of deliveries of Starlink internet satellites into orbit, and occasional privately-funded commercial crewed missions\u00a0on the Dragon.<\/p>\n

The most recent of SpaceX’s private human spaceflights,\u00a0a mission known as Fram2<\/a>, took place in April. SpaceX was also famously involved in funding and operating\u00a0the headline-grabbing Polaris Dawn<\/a>\u00a0crewed commercial mission in September 2024.<\/p>\n

SpaceX additionally benefits from billions of dollars in contracts from NASA and the Department of Defense by providing\u00a0launch services for classified satellites and other payloads<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What is Starlink?<\/p>\n

Owned by SpaceX founder Elon Musk,\u00a0Starlink is a\u00a0constellation of more than<\/a>\u00a07,000 satellites that provide internet service to customers around the world. SpaceX has spent more than six years delivering the satellites to orbit\u00a0with a regular cadence of rocket launches<\/a>\u00a0from both Florida and California.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

What is the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California?<\/p>\n

The Vandenberg Space Force Base is a rocket launch site in Santa Barbara County<\/a> in Southern California.<\/p>\n

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<\/a> for entities like NASA and SpaceX.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

This article has been updated to add new information.<\/p>\n

Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Elon Musk’s commercial spaceflight company could soon get another of its Falcon 9 rockets off the ground from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20575,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[6675,13537,414,18660,13539,2356,13559,13541,3237,13528,11,13532,13530,13548,13538,13543,13535,3729,13555,14958,13545,13558,13529,13547,3,13531,13549,13470,13560,13544,13534,13551,18659,18661,13540,79,193,13554,9175,13550,13561,9176,13553,1513,13546,74,10353,1596,826,13557,13542,13556,13536,13552,13533,404,3447],"class_list":["post-20574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-6675","tag-air","tag-and","tag-barbara","tag-base","tag-california","tag-california-connect","tag-connect","tag-county","tag-elon","tag-elon-musk","tag-exploration","tag-falcon","tag-falcon-9","tag-force","tag-know","tag-launches","tag-local","tag-local-connect","tag-lompoc","tag-modular","tag-modular-story","tag-musk","tag-neutral","tag-news","tag-outer","tag-outer-space","tag-overall","tag-overall-neutral","tag-point","tag-rocket","tag-rocket-launches","tag-santa","tag-santa-barbara-county","tag-satellites","tag-science","tag-space","tag-space-connect","tag-space-exploration","tag-space-exploration-vehicles","tag-space-technology","tag-spacecraft","tag-spacecraft-and-satellites","tag-spacex","tag-story","tag-technology","tag-technology-news","tag-the","tag-to","tag-to-the-point","tag-ttp","tag-ttp-what-we-know","tag-vandenberg","tag-vandenberg-air-force-base","tag-vehicles","tag-we","tag-what"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20574\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}