SpaceX launch at the moment protection from Vandenberg Area Drive Base covers a packed week — two Falcon 9 Starlink flights and a Northrop Grumman protection mission all share the calendar between Monday and Thursday. As of Tuesday, April 7, the primary SpaceX launch already went up after a Sunday scrub pushed it to Monday, and yet one more Falcon 9 remains to be on for Thursday evening.
Vandenberg Launch And SpaceX Falcon 9 Starlink Mission Updates
Sunday Scrub Pushed The First Mission To Monday
SpaceX had Easter Sunday locked in for its Starlink 17-35 Falcon 9 launch, however upper-level wind shears ended that plan with below a minute left on the countdown. A crew member known as a maintain simply earlier than 8 p.m., and the crew stood down. The Vandenberg launch acquired a brand new window for Monday, April 6, opening at 4:03 p.m. PT.
A SpaceX crew member said:
“We’re scrubbed at the moment on account of upper-level wind shears.”
The Monday SpaceX launch at the moment carried 25 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Area Launch Complicated 4 East at Vandenberg Area Drive Base. The SpaceX Falcon 9 booster on this flight was model new — its first ever mission — and it landed on the drone ship Of Course I Nonetheless Love You within the Pacific Ocean after stage separation.
Tuesday Belongs To Northrop Grumman
As we speak’s Vandenberg launch doesn’t contain SpaceX in any respect. Northrop Grumman’s Minotaur IV rocket takes the pad this morning for the STP-S29A mission, a flight the Pentagon’s Area Check Program runs to get know-how demonstrations into orbit. The rocket carries as much as 200 kg of cubesats, with STPSat-7 as the principle payload — an ESPA class satellite tv for pc internet hosting Division of Protection analysis experiments, together with the U.S. Naval Analysis Laboratory’s LARADO instrument, which makes use of lasers to detect and observe deadly non-trackable orbital particles. The window runs from 4:30 to eight:45 a.m. PT from Area Launch Complicated 8.
Thursday Night time Closes The Week With One other Falcon 9
The SpaceX Falcon 9 returns Thursday for the Starlink 17-21 mission, lifting off from SLC-4E with a window opening at 7:39 p.m. PDT. This SpaceX launch at the moment — or somewhat, Thursday’s model of it — sends one other 25 Starlink V2 Mini Optimized satellites into low-Earth orbit, and booster B1063 flies for a thirty second time earlier than touchdown once more on Of Course I Nonetheless Love You. The SpaceX Starlink mission April 2026 cadence retains getting busier: a number of Falcon 9 flights per week from Vandenberg Area Drive Base replicate simply how aggressive the constellation buildout has grow to be proper now.
Starlink describes itself because the world’s first and largest satellite tv for pc constellation utilizing low-Earth orbit to ship broadband web, with 1000’s of satellites orbiting at roughly 550 km altitude. Anybody throughout Southern California or Arizona watching the SpaceX Starlink mission April 2026 schedule ought to observe that Thursday evening’s window may produce a visual streak throughout the sky. Preserve checking the SpaceX launch at the moment updates for any timing modifications — delays occur, and the window can shift near liftoff.
