April 9, 2026Updated April 10, 2026, 3:05 a.m. PT
- A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
- The mission’s goal is to deploy Starlink broadband web satellites into low-Earth orbit.
- The launch window opens shortly earlier than the Artemis II astronauts are set to splash down off the coast of San Diego.
- Numerous places in Santa Barbara, Ventura, and San Luis Obispo counties supply public viewing alternatives for the launch.
Update: This article has been up to date to appropriate an inaccuracy and to add new data.
Hours after the Artemis II astronauts are due to splash down off the coast of San Diego, California, SpaceX could launch a rocket about 200 miles north.
A Falcon 9 rocket is due to get off the ground Friday, April 10 from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County. Its mission? Deploy SpaceX’s Starlink broadband internet satellites into low-Earth orbit.
The launch window is due to open shortly after the 4 Artemis II astronauts are due to return from a 10-day mission around the moon and make a water touchdown within the Pacific Ocean.
Interested in catching a sight of the launch? Plenty of nearby spots are well-liked amongst spectators.
Just understand that postponements due to climate or points with rockets are widespread with spaceflight. Check again with the VC Star for any updates on the upcoming launch.
In the meantime, here is what to learn about the upcoming SpaceX rocket launch from Vandenberg in Santa Barbara County, in addition to the place to watch it.
Is there a rocket launch at the moment? Next mission from Vandenberg in California
SpaceX is working toward a Friday, April 10, launch from Southern California, with a four-hour launch window opening at 7:39 p.m. PT, in accordance to a launch alert.
A Federal Aviation Administration operations plan advisory suggests a backup alternative is on the market the subsequent day if the launch have been to be postponed.
Where is the subsequent launch from California? What to learn about trajectory
The launch will happen from Space Launch Complex 4-East (SLC-4E) on the Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County.
As has turn out to be typical in 2026, the rocket will fly at a southern trajectory.
What is launching from Vandenberg? SpaceX to deploy Starlink satellites
SpaceX will launch its well-known two-stage 230-foot Falcon 9 rocket, one of many world’s most energetic, to deliver 25 Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit, an altitude nearer Earth’s ambiance the place they’re in a position to circle the planet rapidly.
Where to watch California rocket launches in Santa Barbara County
Because Vandenberg is an energetic army base, the launch complicated doesn’t host public viewings of launches.
But if circumstances are clear, rocket launches from the Vandenberg Space Force Base may be considered from a number of places so far as Santa Barbara and Los Angeles.
Space Launch Schedule, a web site devoted to monitoring upcoming rocket launches, provided a list of places in Santa Barbara County in California to catch the launch in particular person:
- thirteenth Street and Arguello Boulevard, a public website with the closest views of SpaceX launches
- Floradale Avenue and West Ocean Avenue, formally designated because the “viewing site for SLC-6” (area launch complex-6)
- Renwick Avenue and West Ocean Avenue, one other intersection shut to the bottom the place spectators can park
- Santa Lucia Canyon Road and Victory Road, supplies a partial view of Complex 4.
The metropolis of Lompoc in Santa Barbara County is stuffed with locations to catch a rocket launch. The metropolis’s tourism bureau, Explore Lompoc, maintains this list with extra viewing places:
- Ocean Park, 6851 Ocean Park Road, Lompoc, which, whereas it would not have a view of the launch pad itself, is situated solely 4 miles from the launch website and supplies a good vantage to see rockets get off the bottom. Parking is restricted, and regulation enforcement will shut the highway to the seashore as soon as parking is full.
- Allan Hancock College, 1 Hancock Drive, Lompoc, a group school situated 9 miles from the launch website the place the launch pad and rocket’s tip may be seen earlier than liftoff.
- Riverbend Park, N A Street and McLaughlin Road, Lompoc, situated inside 10 miles of the launch website, is stuffed with massive fields for actions or for spectators to arrange chairs.
- Surf Beach on Ocean Avenue, one of many closest and hottest locations to watch rocket launches close to Lompoc, so long as it is open and accessible. But a phrase of warning: There is an energetic prepare monitor, the Amtrak Surf Station, that guests should cross. While trains do not run throughout launch home windows, the automobiles might begin up once more with little warning if a liftoff is scrubbed.
Where to watch California rocket launches in Ventura County
Visit Ventura, the tourism bureau in Ventura County, supplied a checklist to the USA TODAY Network of advised places to see a rocket launch from the county:
- Ventura Pier, 750 E. Harbor Blvd, is called the oldest pier in all of California.
- Emma Wood State Beach, situated on the Santa Barbara Channel south of U.S. 101.
- Serra Cross Park at Grant Park, situated simply above San Buenaventura City Hall, 501 Poli St., Ventura, provides a panoramic seascape view.
- San Buenaventura State Beach, 901 San Pedro St., Ventura, situated adjoining to the Ventura Pier.
- Cemetery Memorial Park, Main Street and South Crimea Street, Ventura
Where to watch California rocket launches in San Luis Obispo County
SLO CAL, a countywide vacation spot advertising and marketing and administration group, maintains a checklist of its beneficial finest places to watch a rocket launch in San Luis Obispo County to the north of the launch website:
- Avila Beach, situated off U.S. 101, has a number of eating places and outlets for these wanting to make a day of their rocket-viewing plans.
- Pismo Beach, a metropolis with a vibrant downtown stretch situated simply 38 miles away from Vandenberg
- Shell Beach, a neighborhood in Pismo Beach that’s house to a number of parks, together with Eldwayen Ocean Park and Margo Dodd Park, each on Ocean Boulevard; and Dinosaur Caves Park (2701 Price St.) which can be largely dog-friendly and open to the general public
- Oceano Dunes, the closest place to view launches from the county with open areas alongside the ocean permitting full visibility of the sky
- Morro Strand State Beach, a three-mile stretch between the coastal metropolis Morro Bay and the city of Cayucos. Cayucos’ south-facing seashores ought to have nice views of Vandenberg.
Other cities in California the place rockets could also be seen
Other cities in California the place you would possibly glimpse the Falcon 9 rocket hovering overhead – notably after sundown and earlier than dawn – because it climbs into the sky on a southern trajectory embody:
- Long Beach, a metropolis well-liked with vacationers identified for its waterfront points of interest, situated about 180 south of the launch website alongside the southern coast of California
- Lake Forest, situated about 200 miles south of the launch website alongside the southern coast of California
- San Diego, situated about 280 miles south of the launch website alongside the southern coast of California
- Merced, situated greater than 200 miles north of Vandenberg within the San Joaquin Valley
Will there be sonic booms?
Residents of Santa Barbara County, San Luis Obispo County and Ventura County often stand to be the most likely to hear sonic booms, SpaceX stated.
The sonic booms – transient, thunder-like noises which can be typically heard from the bottom when a spacecraft or plane travels quicker than the velocity of sound – might final for up to 10 minutes after liftoff, Vandenberg has added.
“Areas local to Vandenberg Space Force Base will hear the initial low rumble of take-off,” Vandenberg has additionally stated.
What to learn about booster re-entry
Following the launch, the Falcon 9 rocket’s booster will goal to land on a SpaceX drone ship, nicknamed “Of Course I Still Love You,” within the Pacific Ocean. This permits for SpaceX personnel to recuperate the booster so it may be reused in future spaceflights.
Does Elon Musk personal SpaceX? What to learn about rocket firm
SpaceX is the commercial spaceflight company that billionaire Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, based in 2002 and leads because the CEO.
SpaceX is headquartered at Starbase in South Texas close to the U.S.-Mexico border. The website, which is the place SpaceX has been conducting routine flight exams of its 400-foot megarocket known as Starship, was not too long ago voted by residents to turn out to be its personal metropolis.
As a main authorities contractor, SpaceX serves because the launch service supplier for a number of authorities missions each civil and army.
For the Department of Defense, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 helps launch classified satellites and different payloads into area. And for NASA, Falcon 9 most frequently helps propel astronauts to the International Space Station on SpaceX’s Dragon crew capsule – the one U.S automobile capable of carrying NASA astronauts to orbit.
What is Starlink?
Starlink is SpaceX’s web satellite tv for pc enterprise.
With more than 10,000 satellites in its rising orbital constellation, Starlink has become a lucrative part of Musk’s enterprise empire, serving thousands and thousands of consumers around the globe.
SpaceX, which payments itself as the one satellite tv for pc web supplier with its personal reusable rocket able to deploying the know-how, has spent years delivering the satellites to orbit with a common cadence of rocket launches from Florida and California.
Starlink satellites function from low-Earth orbit, about 341 miles up, which is way nearer to Earth’s ambiance than different satellites. That not solely permits Starlink satellites to supply excessive connection speeds than satellites additional out in area, however to attain rural areas and areas the place web service shouldn’t be readily accessible.
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 positioning was beforehand referred to as the Vandenberg Air Force Base. Though it is a army base, the positioning additionally hosts both civil and commercial space launches for entities like NASA and SpaceX.
Space Launch Delta 30, a unit of Space Force, is accountable for managing the launch operations at Vandenberg, in addition to the missile exams that happen on the base.
Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@usatodayco.com
