Falcon 9 Block 5 — mission imagery
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TBD

SDA Tranche 1 Transport Layer E

Falcon 9 Block 5SpaceXSpace Launch Complex 4E
Thursday, July 16, 2026 · 08:22 PM UTCAdd to Calendar

NextGo for Prop LoadT-35:00

Time to launch

05
DAYS
:
11
HRS
:
29
MIN
:
34
SEC
Launch Window Confidence
46% — Uncertain

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
Launches832
Successes687

Provider

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...

Mission Brief

Tranche 1 Transport Layer E is one of six missions by the United States Space Force Space Development Agency (SDA) for the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA) Tranche 1 Transport Layer constellation, which will provide assured, resilient, low-latency military data and connectivity worldwide to the full range of warfighter platforms from Low Earth Orbit satellites. The constellation will be interconnected with Optical Inter-Satellite Links (OISLs) which have significantly increased performance over existing radio frequency crosslinks. It is expected to operate over Ka band, have stereo coverage and be dynamically networked for simpler hand-offs, greater bandwidth and fault tolerance.

PayloadSDA Tranche 1 Transport Layer E
OrbitPolar Orbit
CustomerSpaceX
Stages2
PadSpace Launch Complex 4E, Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

Mission Timeline

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Go for Prop Load

Launch director gives the go to begin fueling

T-35:00
07:47 PM UTC
  • Go for Prop LoadT-35:00
  • RP-1 Loading BeginsT-35:00
  • Stage 1 LOX Loading BeginsT-35:00
  • Stage 2 LOX Loading BeginsT-16:00
  • Engine Chill BeginsT-07:00
  • Flight Computer Final ChecksT-01:00
  • Tanks Pressurize for FlightT-01:00
  • Strongback Retract BeginsT-00:45
  • Engine Ignition Sequence StartsT-00:03

Ground vector

Launch site

Site locked

Space Launch Complex 4E

Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

Global range
SITE LOCK
Latitude
34.632°N
Longitude
120.611°W

Range Weather

Launch commit criteria

Clear
Watch
TrackingNo active constraints
Weather Rules

Tracking no weather issues at this time.

Primary concern
No weather issues
Rule count
0
Temperature
64 F
Surface wind
10 mph NW

Forecasted weather at launch time (08:00 PM UTC): Partly Sunny. Source: NWS hourly forecast

Window

08:22 PM UTC - 09:09 PM UTC

Delay History

4
Jul 16Jul 16TBD → TBD

Schedule updated

Sep 30Jul 16TBD → TBD

Schedule updated

Sep 30Sep 30TBD → TBD

Schedule updated

Jun 30Sep 30TBD → TBD

Schedule updated