Mission Report · Everything Space
Falcon 9 launches USSF-259 from Vandenberg SFB
SpaceX's Falcon 9 Block 5 lifted off from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA on 17 Sep 2026 01:07:56 UTC. The flight succeeded.
The flight
The window opened at 01:00 UTC and ran 240 minutes. Liftoff came 8 minutes into it.
The first stage, B1097, was making its 13th flight.
It landed on Of Course I Still Love You, 574 km downrange.
The payload was bound for Polar Orbit.
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.
Payload description as recorded by Launch Library 2.
By the numbers
SpaceX has now flown 730 launches in total. Its run of consecutive successful launches stands at 215.
It was the 298th launch from Space Launch Complex 4E.
| Liftoff | 17 Sep 2026 01:07:56 UTC |
|---|---|
| Outcome | Launch Successful |
| Vehicle | Falcon 9 Block 5 |
| Provider | SpaceX |
| Pad | Space Launch Complex 4E |
| Target orbit | Polar Orbit |
| First stage | B1097 (flight 13) |
| Recovery | Landed — Of Course I Still Love You |
Written by Everything Space from Launch Library 2’s record of this flight — every figure above comes from that record. Fetched Mon, 21 Sep 2026 09:43:45 GMT.