Live coverage: SpaceX to launch 24 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg SFB

Central Coast launch watchers, take note: SpaceX has another Starlink mission lined up from Vandenberg Space Force Base this Tuesday night, and if the schedule holds, it will mark the company's 51th flight from the West Coast this year alone.

According to Spaceflight Now, the Starlink 17-49 mission is set to lift off from Space Launch Complex 4 East during a window opening at 7 p.m. PDT. The Falcon 9 will carry two dozen Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit, flying a south-southwesterly trajectory — the kind of path that often produces a brilliant twilight spectacle visible across the 805 when lighting conditions align.

Booster B1103 Targets Fifth Landing

This mission will fly with Falcon 9 first stage booster B1103, which has a growing résum. Spaceflight Now reported that this will be the booster's fifth flight, following previous missions designated SDA-T1TL-E, NROL-179, Starlink 17-35, and Starlink 17-42. That reuse cadence underscores how routine these flights have become — and how quickly SpaceX is cycling through its West Coast booster fleet.

Roughly eight and a half minutes after liftoff, B1103 will attempt a landing on the droneship Of Course I Still Love You, stationed in the Pacific. If successful, it would mark the 163rd landing on that vessel and the 648th Falcon booster landing overall, per Spaceflight Now's tracking.

What Central Coast Viewers Should Know

A 7 p.m. PDT liftoff window puts the launch in that coveted early-evening slot where fading sunlight at higher altitudes can illuminate the Falcon 9's exhaust plume, creating the now-iconic “space jellyfish” effect that locals have grown familiar with over the Lompoc and Santa Ynez valleys. Whether that phenomenon materializes depends heavily on cloud cover and the exact moment of liftoff within the window.

The south-southwesterly trajectory means the rocket will head out over the Pacific, generally tracking toward a polar or sun-synchronous orbit insertion — a hallmark of Vandenberg launches. For viewers along the Central Coast, the rocket should be visible arcing southward shortly after clearing the ridgelines near the base.

Space Launch Complex 4 East has been the workhorse pad for SpaceX's West Coast Starlink campaigns, and the steady drumbeat of missions from SLC-4E has made Vandenberg one of the most active launch sites in the country. For a community that once measured launches in single digits per year, hitting 51 West Coast flights before mid-August is a striking milestone.

Watch and Follow Along

Spaceflight Now plans to begin live coverage approximately 30 minutes before the launch window opens. As always with Vandenberg missions, locals should keep an eye on weather updates — the marine layer can roll in quickly along the coast and obscure visibility even when conditions look clear just a few miles inland.

For real-time updates, road closure information near the base, and post-launch recovery details, follow along with fellow 805 launch enthusiasts who track every window, scrub, and successful booster catch from the Central Coast's front-row seat to the space industry.

Whether you're watching from Orcutt, snap photos from a Santa Barbara hillside, or stepping outside your front door anywhere across the region, Tuesday night's Starlink 17-49 mission is another reminder that Vandenberg's launch cadence shows no signs of slowing down.