SpaceX is preparing for its next launch of Starlink satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base Monday evening.
The mission, dubbed Starlink 15-4, will send another 26 Starlink V2 Mini Optimized satellites into low Earth orbit. Liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4 East is targeting 6:15 p.m. PDT (9:15 p.m. EDT, 0115 UTC).
Spaceflight Now will have live coverage beginning about 30 minutes prior to liftoff.
SpaceX will use the Falcon 9 first stage booster 1088 to launch this mission. Its previous five flights included NASA’s SPHEREx observatory, the Transporter-12 smallsat rideshare and two missions for the National Reconnaissance Office.
A little more than eight minutes after liftoff, B1088 will target a landing on the droneship, ‘Of Course I Still Love You.’ If successful, this will be the 129th booster landing for this droneship and the 445th booster landing to date.
Monday night’s launch also represents SpaceX’s 18th launch this year from California. The Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of the Air Force granted the company the ability to launch up to 50 times from pad 4 East annually.
Assuming SpaceX is able to launch Monday night, its launch rate would be about once every 7.3 days so far in 2025. Between its two pads and droneships in Florida, SpaceX’s East Coast launch rate is roughly once every 3.5 days.
