SpaceX rocket launch from California: What time is liftoff, what to know about sonic booms
The company's famous 230-foot Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to launch as early as Friday, May 9, from Vandenberg Space Force Base, according to a launch alert from the base. On board the Falcon 9 will be a payload of 26 internet-beaming Starlink satellites for deployment into what's called low-Earth orbit – an altitude that allows for things like satellites to circle Earth fairly quickly.
The possible impending launch comes nearly a week after SpaceX, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, called off a previous attempt to get the rocket off the ground to deploy the satellites.
Like most SpaceX launches, the liftoff will be livestreamed. But the rocket launch will also be widely visible for many spectators across California, neighboring Arizona and, in some cases, Las Vegas.
Here's what to know about the launch, as well as when and where to watch it:
The launch window opens at 5 p.m. PT (8 p.m. ET) Friday, May 9, and lasts until 7:21 p.m. PT, according to an alert from Vandenberg Space Force Base in Vandenberg, California. If SpaceX opts to scrub the launch, backup opportunities are available beginning at 5 p.m. PT Saturday, May 10.
The launch, using a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to deliver the Starlink satellites, will take place from Launch Complex 4E from Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County, California.
Following the delivery and deployment of the satellites, the Falcon 9 rocket's first stage 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.
Rocket launches: Here's the May launch schedule from Vandenberg, California
Residents of Santa Barbara County, San Luis Obispo County and Ventura County could hear sonic booms, according to Vandenberg's alert.
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.
SpaceX said it will provide a livestream of the launch on its website beginning about five minutes before liftoff, along with updates on social media site X.
If conditions are clear, rocket launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base in Vandenberg, California, 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
Firefighter Road, an official viewing area on one of the publicly accessible roads closest to several launch complexes, including Complex 4
Floradale Avenue and West Ocean Avenue, officially designated as the 'viewing site for SLC-6' (space launch complex-6)
Harris Grade Road, which rises about 600 feet above the surrounding area, giving spectators a good elevation to see a launch from most of the base's complexes
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
Surf Beach on Ocean Avenue, the only location where the public can view the ignition and liftoff of rockets from Complex 4
Space Exploration Technologies Corp., more widely known as SpaceX, is an astronautics company owned and co-founded by Elon Musk, the world's richest man.
The commercial spaceflight company is contracted with NASA and the Department of Defense to use many of its spacecraft to help launch government missions. SpaceX also conducts many of its own rocket launches – most using its two-stage Falcon 9 rocket – including for private crewed missions and to deliver communication satellites to orbit.
Established in 1941, the Vandenberg Space Force Base, previously Vandenberg Air Force Base, is a site for both military, civil and commercial space launches.
Agencies like NASA and companies like SpaceX routinely launch spacecraft from Vandenberg, a site where where missile testing also takes place. Just recently, for instance, Texas spaceflight company Firefly Aerospace attempted to launch prototype satellites into orbit for Lockheed Martin from the base.
Owned by SpaceX founder Elon Musk, Starlink is a constellation of more than 6,700 satellites that provide internet service to customers around the world.
SpaceX, a commercial spaceflight company, has spent more than six years delivering the satellites to orbit with a regular cadence of rocket launches from Florida and California.
As of late-April, though, billionaire Jeff Bezos' Amazon is seeking to compete with Starlink by launching a group of satellites of its own. On April 28, Amazon contracted with the United Launch Alliance to deliver the first 27 of more than 3,200 planned satellites into low-Earthorbit for its Project Kuiper.
The inaugural launch of what is often referred to online as the "Amazon rocket launch" took place from Cape Canaveral Space Force Base in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
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: How to see SpaceX liftoff from Vandenberg
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