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Space and astronomy news and information for the American Southwest. Coverage includes Vandenberg AFB rocket and missile launches.

Vandenberg AFB Launch Schedule

As of 2018 November 11

A Taurus rocket carrying the ROCSAT-2 satellite lifts-off from Vandenberg AFB

A Taurus rocket carrying Taiwan's ROCSAT-2 satellite lifts-off from Space Launch Complex 576E at Vandenberg AFB. To access launch photos, videos, and audio reports, visit the Vandenberg Rocket and Missile Launch Multimedia library. Image courtesy U.S. Air Force.

This schedule lists rocket and missile launches from Vandenberg AFB for the next several months. It is a composite of unclassified information approved for public release from government, industry, and other sources. This schedule is essentially accurate at the time of publication, but may disagree with other sources. Details on military launches are withheld until they are approved for public release. For detailed information about this schedule, refer to the Notes section below.

To receive this launch schedule and launch updates by e-mail, click here.

All launch dates and times are subject to change.

Date Launch
Time/Window
PST/PDT
 Vehicle Pad/Silo Comments
NOV 19 10:32 Falcon 9 SLC-4E Vehicle will launch several satellites as part of the SSO-A mission
NOV 29 Unknown Delta IV
Heavy		 SLC-6 Vehicle will launch the NROL-71 payload for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office
DEC 30 08:38 Falcon 9 SLC-4E Vehicle will launch Iridium NEXT satellites 66-75
NET FEB 18 Unknown Falcon 9 SLC-4E Vehicle will launch three RADARSAT earth imaging satellites for Canada

Notes

  1. The dates and times in this schedule may not agree with those on other online launch schedules, including the official Vandenberg AFB schedule because different sources were used, the information was interpreted differently, and the schedules were updated at different times.

  2. The webmaster does not post the dates, launch windows, and times for military launches until they have been officially released by the Defense Department.

  3. All launch dates and times are given in Pacific Time using a 24-hour format similar to military time (midnight = 00:00, 1:00 p.m. = 13:00, 11:00 p.m. = 23:00, etc.).

  4. The above schedule makes no distinction between Pacific Standard Time (PST) and Pacific Daylight Saving Time (PDT). PST is in effect from the first Sunday in November to the second Sunday in March. PDT is in effect from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November.

  5. The Pacific Time zone lags UTC by 7 or 8 hours, depending on the time of year. The time difference is as follows:

    2018 MAR 11 - 2018 NOV 4: Pacific Time = UTC -7 hours

    2018 NOV 4 - 2019 MAR 10: Pacific Time = UTC -8 hours

  6. Launch dates are fluid and tend to change over time.

  7. Launches for all vehicles except the Pegasus XL are scheduled for the start of the launch window. Pegasus XL launch times are scheduled for the middle of the launch window.

  8. Prior to the launch of a classified payload, the exact launch time is kept secret until about T-18 to T-4 hours. The launch window is also secret and not made public. Instead of providing the launch window, the Air Force announces a launch period - a large block of time within which the launch window falls.

  9. For additional information on Vandenberg AFB launches, refer to Viewing Vandenberg AFB Launches.

Abbreviations

NETNo earlier than
PDTPacific Daylight Time
PSTPacific Standard Time
SLCSpace Launch Complex
UTCCoordinated Universal Time

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