B1097

The mission represents a rare public announcement of the launch of SpaceX’s Starshield satellites, a government variant of Starlink satellites. Liftoff from pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base happened at 9:24:45 p.m. PDT on Saturday, June 6 (12:24:45 a.m. EDT / 0424:45 UTC on Sunday, June 7).

The Starlink 17-18 mission added 25 more satellites to SpaceX’s low Earth orbit megaconstellation. Liftoff from pad 4E happened at 4:00:19 a.m. PDT (7:00:19 a.m. EDT / 1100:19 UTC).