SpaceX is set to send another Falcon 9 into the night sky from Vandenberg Space Force Base, with liftoff planned between 8:45 p.m. Friday and 12:48 a.m. Saturday. The mission, No. 73 for the year, will carry 27 Starlink satellites from Space Launch Complex-4 on the South Base.
The launch adds to a pace that has turned Vandenberg into one of the busiest places in the country for rockets this year. By Thursday, 68 of the base's missions had involved SpaceX Falcon rockets, and the next flight extends a 2026 run that already passed last year's total after an early Tuesday morning launch pushed the count to 72.
The window spans more than four hours because rocket launches do not happen on a fixed clock. Range constraints, weather and technical checks can all move the exact time within the approved period, which is why the schedule gives a start and end time rather than a single minute. If the timing holds, this will be the first of three more Vandenberg launches already lined up on the calendar.
SpaceX plans additional Falcon 9 launches from Vandenberg on Monday and Nov. 5, with those flights set to be Nos. 74 and 75 for the West Coast installation. One will deliver a U.S. Space Force payload, while the other will place more Starlink satellites in orbit. The next mission also highlights how frequently the company is reusing hardware, with the first-stage booster on this flight making its 18th trip to space before landing on Of Course I Still Love You in the Pacific Ocean for another future mission.
That pace comes with a contradiction of its own. Vandenberg officials said Tuesday's blastoff marked the 72nd launch supported for 2026, already ahead of the base's 2025 total of 71, even though two more launches are still scheduled before November begins. The 2025 figure rises to 77 when aeronautical operations are included, but the rocket count alone has already been beaten with more than two months left in the year.
For now, the Vandenberg launch schedule is doing exactly what it has done all year: moving fast and leaving little room for pause. SpaceX is using one launch site for its Vandenberg liftoffs, even as work continues to convert Space Launch Complex-6 for both Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, which suggests the base's tempo is unlikely to ease soon.
