Falcon 9 launch of Bandwagon-2 mission from Vandenberg SFB scheduled early Saturday
VANDENBERG SPACE FORCE BASE, Calif. – A Falcon 9 launch of the Bandwagon-2 mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base has been scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 21 at 3:34 a.m. local time.
A backup window is scheduled for Sunday, Dec. 22 at 3:12 a.m. shared SpaceX.
Why so early?
According to Vandenberg Space Force, the launch windows have been chosen to achieve the required orbital location for the mission which will carry multiple groups of satellites destined for low-Earth orbit.
There will be 30 separate payloads on this mission from KOREA ADD, Arrow Science and Technology, Exolaunch, HawkEye 360, Maverick Space Systems, Sidus Space Tomorrow Companies Inc., True Anomaly, and Think Orbital.
A live webcast of the launch will begin about 15 minutes before liftoff that you can watch here.
About eight minutes after liftoff, the reusable Falcon 9 booster will return to land at Landing Zone 4 at Vandenberg and residents are warned they may hear a sonic boom at landing which depends on weather as well as other conditions shared Vandenberg Space Force.
This will be the 21st flight for the Falcon 9 booster assigned to this mission which previously launched: NROL-87, NROL-85, SARah-1, SWOT, Transporter-8, Transporter-9, NROL-146, and 13 Starlink satellite missions.
