Name: USSF-259 launch
Start: 2026-09-17T01:07:56+00:00
End: 2026-09-17T05:00:00+00:00
Location: Space Launch Complex 4E, Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

Mission brief

The mission

USSF-259 is a classified mission for the United States Space Force. It is possibly a batch of classified LEO satellites based on SpaceX’s Starshield satellite bus, based on locations of ascent rocket stage drop zones being fits with previous SDA Transport Layer launches.

PayloadUSSF-259

OrbitPolar Orbit

CustomerSpaceX

Stages2

PadSpace Launch Complex 4E, Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

WeatherNo formal weather concerns published, temperature not reported

Flight plan

Mission timeline

20 / 20100%

The range

Where it leaves Earth

Launch site

Ground vector

Site locked

Space Launch Complex 4E

Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

Global range

Latitude: 34.632°N
Longitude: 120.611°W

Can I see this?

Distance and a plain visibility call from a place you choose. Trajectory is not modeled — night launches travel farther across the sky than daylight ones.

Save a viewing place to judge this pad from where you stand.

Range weather

Launch commit criteria

95%

Go

FavorableNo active constraints

Weather rules

Clear — no formal weather rule concerns published.

Primary concern: None published
Rule count: 0
Temperature: Not reported
Surface wind: Not reported

Window

01:00 AM UTC – 05:00 AM UTC

Hardware

Vehicle & provider

Vehicle

Falcon 9 Block 5

Profile →

Falcon 9 is a two-stage rocket designed and manufactured by SpaceX for the reliable and safe transport of satellites and the Dragon spacecraft into orbit. The Block 5 variant is the fif...

Height70 m

LEO Payload22,800 kg

Launches860

Successes717

Provider

SpaceX

Profile →

USA • Founded 2002

Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX, is an American aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by entrepreneur E...

Reliability