Falcon 9 Launch of USSF-259 Mission From Vandenberg SFB Scheduled For Tuesday Night

VANDENBERG SPACE FORCE BASE, Calif. (KEYT) – A Falcon 9 launch of the USSF-259 Mission from Space Launch Complex 4E is scheduled for Tuesday, Sep. 15, between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. Pacific Time.

A backup launch window has been designated for the same time the following day, Wednesday, Sep. 16.

The payload of this Space Force mission is classified confirmed the federal agency to Your News Channel Monday.

A live webcast of the launch will begin about ten minutes before liftoff. You can tune in to watch here or on SpaceX's X/Twitter account.

Following first-stage separation, the booster assigned to this launch will return to Earth to land on the Of Course I Still Love You drone ship awaiting in the Pacific Ocean.

A depiction of that launch sequence is shown in the image below.

There is the potential for one or more sonic booms to be heard across the region during the launch process, but how far the sound travels will depend on weather and other conditions at launch time.

This will be the 13th flight for the first stage booster on this mission. The same Falcon 9 previously launched the following missions: Sentinel-6B, Twilight, NROL-172, Transporter-17, and eight Starlink missions