SpaceX is lining up another West Coast Falcon 9 launch to keep expanding its Starlink network, with 24 more satellites set to ride into orbit from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
The mission is scheduled for Wednesday evening from Space Launch Complex 4E, and Spaceflight Now says live coverage will begin about 30 minutes before liftoff. The launch window is set for 8:30 p.m. PDT, or 11:30 p.m. EDT and 0330 UTC.
Falcon 9’s next busy run from Vandenberg
The flight will send 24 Starlink V2 Mini satellites on a south-southwesterly trajectory aboard Falcon 9 first stage B1081, which is making its 25th flight. About 8.5 minutes after launch, the booster is scheduled to land on the drone ship Of Course I Still Love You.
SpaceX expects second-stage deployment to follow just over an hour into the mission. The launch also reflects how California has become the company’s workhorse launch pad in 2026 as SpaceX shifts more focus to Starship operations at Cape Canaveral.
Vandenberg is carrying more of the load
Wednesday’s flight is the seventh of eight launches SpaceX plans from Vandenberg in June, compared with six planned Florida launches in the same month. If the schedule holds, SpaceX will have launched 40 missions from Vandenberg and 37 from Cape Canaveral in the first half of 2026.
That shift comes as SpaceX limits Falcon 9 launches at Cape Canaveral to Space Launch Complex 40 and keeps Launch Complex 39A available for Falcon Heavy missions while work continues on the first East Coast Starship facility there. SpaceX also said in April that it was repurposing one of its East Coast Falcon 9 droneships, Just Read the Instructions, to move Starship components from Starbase to Florida.
A fast turnaround at the pad
The new Starlink mission follows the Starlink 17-28 launch on June 21, which set a new turnaround record for Space Launch Complex 4E at about 56 hours after the previous flight. That fast pace was visible on the ground, with the booster from the earlier NROL-179 mission still present at the landing zone after returning to Vandenberg.
For SpaceX, the cadence at Vandenberg has become a clear sign of how much of the company’s near-term launch activity is being absorbed by the West Coast site. The next Falcon 9 flight will add another batch of Starlink satellites to the growing network as the company keeps pushing for a packed June schedule.