SpaceX announces launch window of Monday afternoon from Vandenberg Space Force Base

VANDENBERG SPACE FORCE BASE, Calif. – SpaceX has designated a 2:19 p.m. launch window on Monday, Jun. 12 for a Falcon 9 carrying a Transporter-8 Mission before returning to land the first stage rocket booster about eight minutes later in Landing Zone 4 at Vandenberg Space Force Base.

The 57-minute launch window begins at 2:19 p.m. and if needed, a backup launch window has been designated on Tuesday, Jun. 13 at the same time period.

The three experimental satellites to be delivered on this launch into low-Earth orbit include two Modular Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (MISR) CubeSats as well as an XVI military communications satellite.

The MISR CubeSats use a two-way communications system with ground devices and will experiment with "novel methods for the DoD [U. S. Department of Defense] to tactically leverage small satellite capabilities", details a Space Systems Command press release about the launch.

The Transporter-8 Mission is SpaceX's eighth dedicated smallsat rideshare mission in partnership with the Air Force Research Laboratory and the Department of Defense.

These low-Earth destined CubeSats join a growing constellation of nanosatellites and other CubeSats.

“Cultivating multiple paths to space for experimental satellites is imperative to maintain continued access as space becomes further congested and contested," said Lt. Col. Jonathan Shea, Space Systems Command’s Director of the Department of Defense's Space Test Program.  

For more information about Monday's launch or to watch it live, click here. The live webcast will begin about 15 minutes before liftoff.