- Rocket launches from the Vandenberg Space Force Base can be viewed from several locations as far as Santa Barbara and Los Angeles.
- SpaceX also provides a live webcast of the missions on its website.
- Postponements due to weather or issues with rockets are common with spaceflight, so keep that in mind as you make your rocket launch-viewing plans
Update: This article has been updated with a new launch window announced by the Vandenberg Space Force Base.
Looking to keep the fun going after a long Labor Day weekend? Residents and visitors in California may want to check out the first rocket launch of the month from the state.
SpaceX, the commercial rocket company founded by billionaire Elon Musk, is planning its first Starlink satellite deployment of September from the Vandenberg Space Force Base.
The internet-beaming satellites have become a key component of Musk's spaceflight business ventures. For Californians – and sometimes Arizonans – that means plenty of opportunities to watch SpaceX's Falcon 9 get off the ground from Santa Barbara County.
But postponements due to weather or issues with rockets are common with spaceflight, so keep that in mind as you make your rocket launch-viewing plans. Check back with the VC Star for any updates on the impending launch.
In the meantime, here's everything to know about the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base, as well as when and where to watch it.
When is the next rocket launch from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California?
SpaceX is working toward a Tuesday, Sept. 2, launch of its Falcon 9 rocket from the Vandenberg Space Force Base. The four-hour launch window opens at 7:33 p.m. PT, according to a launch alert from the Vandenberg Space Force Base.
Where is the next launch from California?
The launch will take place fromLaunch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Basein Santa Barbara County, California. Most launches from Vandenberg fly at a south or southeast trajectory.
What is the next mission launching from Vandenberg? SpaceX to deploy Starlink satellites
SpaceX will launch its famous two-stage 230-foot Falcon 9 rocket, one of the world's most active, to deliver 24 Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit.
The altitude is low enough to allow for things like satellites to circle Earth fairly quickly.
How to watch SpaceX Starlink launch livestream
As with most SpaceX missions, the launch will be available to stream on the company's website and its new X TV mobile app, beginning about five minutes before liftoff. SpaceX may also provide updates onsocial media site X.
Where to watch rocket launches in Santa Barbara County, California
Because Vandenberg is an active military base, the launch complex does not host public viewings of launches.
But if conditions are clear, rocket launches from the Vandenberg Space Force Base 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 Santa Barbara County in Californiato catch the launch in person:
- 13th Street and Arguello Boulevard, a public site with the closest views of SpaceX launches
- Floradale Avenue and West Ocean Avenue, officially designated as the “viewing site for SLC-6” (space launch complex-6)
- 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
The city of Lompoc in Santa Barbara County is filled with places to catch a rocket launch. The city's tourism bureau, Explore Lompoc,even maintains this listwith additional viewing locations:
- Ocean Park, 6851 Ocean Park Road, which, while it doesn't have a view of the launch pad itself, is located only four miles from the launch site and provides a good vantage to see rockets get off the ground. Parking is limited, and law enforcement will close the road to the beach once parking is full.
- Allan Hancock College, 1 Hancock Drive, a community college located nine miles from the launch site where both the launch pad and rocket's tip can be seen before liftoff.
- Riverbend Park, N A Street and McLaughlin Road, located within 10 miles of the launch site, is filled with large fields for activities or for spectators to set up chairs.
- Surf Beach on Ocean Avenue, one of the closest and most popular places to watch rocket launches near Lompoc, as long as it's open and accessible. But a word of caution: There is an active train track, theAmtrak Surf Station, that visitors must cross. While trains don't run during launch windows, the vehicles could start up again with little warning if a liftoff is scrubbed.
Where to watch launches from Vandenberg in Ventura County, California
Visit Ventura, the tourism bureau in Ventura County, provided a list to the USA TODAY Network of suggested locations to see a rocket launch from the county:
- Ventura Pier, 750 E. Harbor Boulevard, is known as the oldest pier in all of California.
- Emma Wood State Beach, located on theSanta Barbara Channelsouth ofUS Highway 101.
- Serra Cross Park at Grant Park, located just above San Buenaventura City Hall, 501 Poli St., Ventura, offers a panoramic seascape view.
- San Buenaventura State Beach, 901 San Pedro St., Ventura, located adjacent 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 destination marketing and management organization, maintains a list of its recommended best locations to watch a rocket launch in San Luis Obispo County to the north of the launch site:
- Avila Beach, located off U.S. 101, has a variety of restaurants and shops for those looking to make a day of their rocket-viewing plans.
- Pismo Beach,a city with a vibrarnt downtown stretch located just 38 miles away from Vandenberg
- Shell Beach, a neigbhrood in Pismo Beach that is home to several parks, including Eldwayen Ocean Park and Margo Dodd Park, both on Ocean Boulevard; and Dinosaur Caves Park (2701 Price St.) that are mostly dog-friendly and open to the public
- Oceano Dunes,theclosest place to view launches from the county with open spaces along the ocean allowing full visibility of the sky
- Morro Strand State Beach, a three-mile stretch between the coastal cityMorro Bayand the town ofCayucos. Cayucos' south-facing beaches should have great views of Vandenberg.
Other cities in California where rockets may be visible
Other cities in California where you might glimpse the Falcon 9 rocket soaring overhead as it climbs into the sky on a southern trajectory include:
- Long Beach, a city popular with tourists known for its waterfront attractions, located about 180 south of the launch site along the southern coast of California
- Lake Forest, located about 200 miles south of the launch site along the southern coast of California
- San Diego, located about 280 miles south of the launch site along the southern coast of California
- Merced, located more than 200 miles north of Vandenberg in the San Joaquin Valley
Will there be sonic booms?
Residents of Santa Barbara County, San Luis Obispo County and Ventura County could hear sonic booms, according to SpaceX. No sonic boom should be heard over populated areas along the southern coast of California, Vandenberg added.
"Areas local to Vandenberg Space Force Base will hear the initial low rumble of take-off," according to the launch 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.
What to know about re-entry
Following the launch, the Falcon 9 rocket's 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.
What is SpaceX?
Elon Musk, the world's richest man, founded SpaceX in 2002.
The commercial spaceflight company isheadquartered at Starbasein South Texas near the U.S.-Mexico border. The site, which is where SpaceX has been conducting routine flight testsof its 400-foot megarocket known as Starship, was recently voted by residents to become its own city.
SpaceX conducts many of its own rocket launches, most using the Falcon 9 rocket, from California and Florida. That includes a regular cadence of deliveries of Starlink internet satellites into orbit, and occasional privately funded commercial crewed missionson the Dragon.
The most recent of SpaceX's private human spaceflights,a mission known as Fram2, took place in April. SpaceX was also famously involved in funding and operatingthe headline-grabbing Polaris Dawncrewed commercial mission in September 2024.
SpaceX additionally benefits from billions of dollars in contracts from NASA and the Department of Defense by providinglaunch services for classified satellites and other payloads.
What is Starlink?
Owned by Musk,Starlink is aconstellation of nearly8,000 satellites that provide internet service to customers around the world. SpaceX has spent more than six years delivering the satellites to orbitwith a regular cadence of rocket launchesfrom both Florida and California.
While most satellite internet services operate from single geostationary satellites orbiting Earth at about 22,236 miles, Starlink is a constellation of thousands of satellites that operate from a low-Earth orbit, about 341 miles up. That allows Starlink's satellites to have lower latency and data time between user and the satellite, improving performance of things like streaming, online gaming and video calls.
Residential plansfor Starlink services start at $80 per month.
What is the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California?
The Vandenberg Space Force Baseis a rocket launch site in Santa Barbara Countyin Southern California.
Established in 1941, the site was previously known as the Vandenberg Air Force Base. Though it's a military base, the site also hostsboth civil and commercial space launchesfor entities like NASA and SpaceX.
Space Launch Delta 30, a unit of Space Force, is responsible for managing the launch operations at Vandenberg, as well as the missile tests that take place at the base.
Contributing: Jennifer Sangalang, USA TODAY Network; Paris Barraza, Palm Springs Desert Sun
Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com
