SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches secretive U.S. Space Force mission from Vandenberg, California
Video from the channel Spaceflight Now about Falcon 9, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 46:07. Language: English. Video type: Livestream.
What's being broadcast
Live coverage from Spaceflight Now, hosted by Will Robinson-Smith from the channel's newsroom at Kennedy Space Center, of the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 carrying the USSF-385 mission, a classified payload for the US Space Force. Liftoff took place on Saturday, September 26, 2026, from Space Launch Complex SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, with a scheduled time of 7:00 a.m. Pacific (14:00 UTC). The first stage was booster B1100, flying its tenth mission. It had debuted in late November 2025 on a Starlink mission and in January 2026 launched the National Reconnaissance Office's NROL-105 mission. Before the launch, the host runs through the latest news: the arrival in Florida of the Crew-13 crew, bound for the International Space Station with liftoff planned for October 1; a Falcon Heavy carrying the NROL-79 payload scheduled for the same date; and Starship's flight 14, which was still awaiting FAA approval.
Key moments
The countdown is followed step by step: loading of RP-1 kerosene, liquid oxygen and helium, chilling of the Merlin engines, and retraction of the launch pad's support structure, which was wrapped in thick fog even though conditions were favorable for flight. After liftoff come max aerodynamic pressure, shutdown of the first stage's nine engines, stage separation, ignition of the second stage's vacuum engine, and fairing separation. At the customer's request, the broadcast did not show footage of the second stage or of the payload deployment. The booster reached about 116 km in altitude, performed its reentry burn with three engines and its landing burn with a single engine.
Outcome
B1100 landed without issue on the droneship Of Course I Still Love You, in the Pacific. It was the 226th landing on that droneship and SpaceX's 550th landing on an ocean platform. The mission was the 690th launch of a Falcon 9 and the model's 108th in 2026. The host notes that previous missions in this series each carried 23 satellites, though neither the Space Force nor SpaceX has confirmed the nature of the payload. He also points out that the Falcon 9's launch cadence is slowing as SpaceX hands the baton to Starship.