Rocket Launches in California
An up-to-date list of all 43 scheduled rocket launches in California, and a map of active launch sites.
Rocket Launch Sites in California
Mojave Air and Space Port
A leading air launch facility for private spaceflight and aerospace research in Mojave, California.
Vandenberg SFB
U.S. Space Force facility in California for spacecraft launches and missile testing.
Upcoming California Launches
24 Nov, 3:26am
UTC
A batch of satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
Last Update: Postponed to NET November 24 UTC per NOTAMs B1540/24 & B1541/24.
First of six missions launched by the Space Development Agency for the Tranche 1 Transport Layer.
Last Update: NET late 2024.
NAOS (National Advanced Optical System) is the space component of Luxembourg's governmental dual-use observation satellite system LUXEOSys (Luxembourg Earth Observation System). Its purpose is to provide high resolution images to national and international governmental and military organizations such as NATO. The 800 kg satellite is built by OHB Italia and is equipped with a very high-resolution optical camera with a ground reolution of 50 cm in an around 450 km high sun-synchronous orbit. It will have a operational life time of 7 years.
Last Update: Launch vehicle switched from Vega-C to Falcon 9.
Classified payload for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office.
Updated: Jan 16, 9:30am UTC
Dedicated rideshare flight to a sun-synchronous orbit with dozens of small microsatellites and nanosatellites for commercial and government customers.
Last Update: NET January 2025. (see also Varda W-Series 2 update at https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=58044.msg2640800#msg2640800)
First of up to 25 launches of Low Earth Orbit technology demonstration satellites to be built and operated by Lockheed Martin. Launch operation will also again demonstrate responsive space pre-launch operation capabilities.
Last Update: NET Q1 2025.
TBD
Apr 2025
SPHEREx is a planned two-year astrophysics mission to survey the sky in the near-infrared light, which, though not visible to the human eye, serves as a powerful tool for answering cosmic questions involving the birth of the universe, and the subsequent development of galaxies. It also will search for water and organic molecules – essentials for life as we know it – in regions where stars are born from gas and dust, known as stellar nurseries, as well as disks around stars where new planets could be forming. Astronomers will use the mission to gather data on more than 300 million galaxies, as well as more than 100 million stars in our own Milky Way galaxy. NASA’s Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) mission will share a ride to space with SPHEREx. It consists of four suitcase-sized satellites, which will focus on the Sun’s outer atmosphere (the corona) and how it generates the solar wind. The spacecraft also will track coronal mass ejections – large eruptions of solar material that can drive large space weather events near Earth – to better understand their evolution and develop new techniques for predicting such eruptions.
Last Update: NET April 2025.
TBD
May 2025
The Electro-Optical/Infrared Weather System (EWS) Operational Demonstration-1 (OD-1) is a weather satellite for the United States Space Force. It is a prototype satellite made by General Atomics that will be place in LEO for a three-year demonstration mission of new EO/IR sensor technologies to various US military branches, and to act as a stop-gap for Defense Department needs for weather data.
Updated: Jan 17, 7:30am UTC
TBD
Jun 2025
Demonstration mission for Lockheed Martin new LM400 satellite bus, which will carry a communications payload. The satellite bus is customizable to support different missions, including remote sensing, communications, imagery and radar Earth observations. It can also support different kinds of orbits and launch configurations.
Updated: Nov 21, 5:30am UTC
TBD
Sep 2025
STP-S29A is a mission under the U.S. Department of Defense's Space Test Program (STP) that will deliver technology demonstrations to orbit and contribute to future space system development, with this launch delivering up to 200 kg of STP cubesats to Low Earth Orbit. The main payload will be STPSat-7, an ESPA class satellite based on the Aegis Aerospace M-1 satellite bus used on the STPSat-4 mission for hosting research and technology demonstration payloads for the Department of Defense (DoD). One of the payload is U.S. Naval Research Laboratory's (NRL) Lightsheet Anomaly Resolution and Debris Observation (LARADO) instrument, used to detect and characterize lethal non-trackable orbital debris with lasers in orbit.
Updated: Oct 13, 6:00pm UTC
24 satellites for Rivada's internet constellation.
Updated: Apr 12, 11:33pm UTC
24 satellites for Rivada's internet constellation.
Updated: Apr 12, 11:33pm UTC
24 satellites for Rivada's internet constellation.
Updated: Apr 12, 11:33pm UTC
24 satellites for Rivada's internet constellation.
Updated: Apr 12, 11:33pm UTC
24 satellites for Rivada's internet constellation.
Updated: Apr 12, 11:33pm UTC
24 satellites for Rivada's internet constellation.
Updated: Apr 12, 11:33pm UTC
Updated: Apr 12, 11:33pm UTC
Classified mission launched by the Space Development Agency (SDA) for Tranche 1 Tracking Layer.
Updated: Apr 12, 11:33pm UTC
Classified mission launched by the Space Development Agency (SDA) for Tranche 1 Transport Layer.
Updated: Apr 12, 11:33pm UTC
Classified mission launched by the Space Development Agency (SDA) for Tranche 1 Transport Layer.
Updated: Apr 12, 11:33pm UTC
Classified mission launched by the Space Development Agency (SDA) for Tranche 1 Transport Layer.
Updated: Apr 12, 11:33pm UTC
Classified mission launched by the Space Development Agency (SDA) for Tranche 1 Transport Layer.
Updated: Apr 12, 11:33pm UTC
Classified mission launched by the Space Development Agency (SDA) for Tranche 1 Tracking Layer.
Updated: Jan 3, 8:05pm UTC
Classified mission launched by the Space Development Agency (SDA) for Tranche 1 Tracking Layer.
Updated: Jan 3, 8:05pm UTC
Classified payload for the US Space Force.
Updated: Jan 3, 8:05pm UTC