Heavy fog can’t stop SpaceX rocket launch from Vandenberg — or slow busy schedule

A Falcon 9 rocket and its cargo — 15 Starlink satellites — lifted off Monday night from Vandenberg Space Force Base, the 19th launch so far this year.

Launch of the SpaceX rocket occurred at 8:57 p.m. from Space Launch Complex-4 near Lompoc on an especially foggy night, prompting the company to again employ a sketched outline as proof of the shrouded vehicle.

More than nine minutes after departure, the rocket’s first-stage booster returned to land on a droneship positioned in the Pacific Ocean.

SpaceX said the Starlink satellite deployment was set to occur more than 14 minutes after liftoff, but officials were awaiting confirmation once the spacecraft passed over a ground station.

“Following this launch, we’ll have matched our impressive 2022 launch cadence,” Vandenberg officials said Monday on social media. “With five months left on the calendar, we’re expecting to achieve over 30 launches this year.

“This is a testament to the dedication and hard work of our amazing #TeamV members and partners who make these missions possible.”

Earlier this year, Vandenberg’s officials had estimated the base could see more than 40 missions.

Launch schedules remain fluid based on various factors, including the readiness of the payload.

Designed and manufactured by SpaceX, Starlink is a space-based constellation to provide internet access where land-based service remains unavailable or unreliable.

SpaceX reportedly plans to eventually place 30,000 Starlink satellites in orbit, explaining the high launch tempo from both California and Florida.

In fact, Monday night’s mission occurred approximately 24 hours after 22 Starlink satellites traveled to space Sunday night from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Twelve of the West Coast’s 16 Falcon 9 rocket missions so far this year carried Starlink satellites. Four others involved payloads for assorted other customers.

Vandenberg also has conducted three suborbital missions — or those that travel to space and then return — including two Minuteman III missile tests, plus a Stratolaunch flight.

Previous Falcon missions from Vandenberg involved as many as 52 Starlink satellites.

The number of satellites per launch has dropped as SpaceX moved to delivering the second-generation, and bigger, satellites into space.

Gen 2 satellites, as they have nicknamed, first flew from Florida, before SpaceX began sending them to space from Vandenberg.

The firm received authorization “to launch additional, much-improved spacecraft with significantly more throughput per satellite than the first-generation systems,” Starlink representatives said.

“For the end consumer, this means more bandwidth and increased reliability. As a result, millions more Americans will have access to high-speed internet no matter where they live.”

In total, SpaceX has launched more than 4,900 Starlink satellites, but approximately 4,560 remain in orbit, according to the tally kept by Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer and astrophysicist at the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics who also compiles statistics for Jonathan’s Space Report.

Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com .