Residents of Ventura County, High Desert and Coachella Valley should look west to see the launch and colorful display.
A live webcast of the SpaceX mission begins approximately five minutes before launch and can be viewed on X @SpaceX or spacex.com.
The launch marks the 16th flight of the first booster stage in support of this mission, which previously launched SARah-2, Transporter-11, SDA-0A and 12 Starlink missions.
After the stage separation, the first stage will land on the drone ship “Of Course I Still Love You,” which will be stationed in the Pacific.
A busy introductory year for Space XOn December 24, Digital Trends reported that SpaceX had its busiest year yet for rocket launches. The Elon Musk-led space company conducted 129 Falcon 9 launches, two Falcon Heavy launches and three Starship launches.
The Falcon rocket flights were primarily to deploy satellites for Starlink, SpaceX’s internet-from-space service. But there were also more than 20 launches for a number of commercial customers, up from 12 in 2023.
Digital Trends reported that the number of government contract launches rose to around 18 this year.
SpaceX’s 2025 campaign SpaceX officials expect 2025 to be even busier, with the goal of serving more customers than ever before.
SpaceX also wants to intensify testing of its powerful Starship rocket. According to Digital Trends, up to 25 launches are planned next year.
So far, the rocket has only flown six times, with the first launch taking place in April 2023. SpaceX already has approval for the spacecraft’s seventh test flight, which some reports suggest could take place in early January.
The Starship rocket is reported to produce a record 17 million pounds of thrust when lifted off the ground.
SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX, is an American aerospace manufacturer and space transportation service provider headquartered in Hawthorne, California.
SpaceX was founded in 2002 by entrepreneur Elon Musk to reduce the cost of space transportation and enable the colonization of Mars.
SpaceX operates from many launch sites, including the Florida-based SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and the historic LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center.
Additionally from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, usually for polar launches. Another starting point is Boca Chica, Texas.
