Update: The launch has been rescheduled for 10:18 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. Friday, Nov. 28, according to an updated launch alert.
Have family in town for Thanksgiving and looking for some plans during the holiday week? If you’re in California, you might want to consider taking them to catch a rocket launch.
Thanks to a rescheduled mission from earlier in November, SpaceX is now planning to launch its Falcon 9 rocket on the day before Thanksgiving from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County. The mission, a rideshare venture for commercial and government customers known as Transporter-15, had originally been due to get off the ground in the week prior to the new target date.
Because it’s a mid-morning launch window, daylight may interfere with sights of the spacecraft further from Vandenberg. But fortunately, plenty of locations near the launch site have become popular among spectators.
Want to watch the liftoff? Keep in mind that postponements due to weather or issues with rockets are common with spaceflight. Check back with the VC Star for any updates on the impending launch.
In the meantime, here’s what to know about the upcoming SpaceX rocket launch from Vandenberg, as well as some suggested locations where you might be able to watch it.
Is there a rocket launch today? Next mission from Vandenberg in California
SpaceX is working toward a launch the day before Thanksgiving, Wednesday, Nov. 26, from the Vandenberg Space Force Base. The brief launch window lasts from 10:18 to 11:15 a.m. PT, according to a launch alert.
A Federal Aviation Administration operations plan advisory suggests a backup opportunity is available Friday, Nov. 28, the day after the federal holiday, if the launch were to be postponed.
Where is the next launch from California? What to know about trajectory
The launch will take place from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County.
The rocket is due to fly at a southern trajectory.
SpaceX to launch Transporter-15 during Thanksgiving week
SpaceX will launch its famous two-stage 230-foot Falcon 9 rocket, one of the world’s most active, on a rideshare mission known as Transporter-15.
The payloads, including small satellites for paying customers, are due to be deployed into a sun-synchronous orbit, meaning they match Earth’s rotation around the sun. The mission comes after SpaceX launched Transporter-14 at the end of June, which carried 70 total payloads to orbit, including the remains of 166 individuals for a memorial spaceflight.
Where to watch rocket launches in Santa Barbara County, California
Because Vandenberg is an active military base, the launch complex does not host public viewings of launches.
But if conditions are clear, rocket launches from the Vandenberg Space Force Base can be viewed from several locations as far as Santa Barbara and Los Angeles.
Space Launch Schedule, a website dedicated to tracking upcoming rocket launches, provided a list of places in Santa Barbara County in California to catch the launch in person:
The city of Lompoc in Santa Barbara County is filled with places to catch a rocket launch. The city’s tourism bureau, Explore Lompoc, maintains this list with additional viewing locations:
Where to watch launches from Vandenberg in Ventura County, California
Visit Ventura, the tourism bureau in Ventura County, provided a list to the USA TODAY Network of suggested locations to see a rocket launch from the county:
Where to watch California rocket launches in San Luis Obispo County
SLO CAL, a countywide destination marketing and management organization, maintains a list of its recommended best locations to watch a rocket launch in San Luis Obispo County to the north of the launch site:
Other cities in California where rockets may be visible
Other cities in California where you might glimpse the Falcon 9 rocket soaring overhead – particularly after sunset and before sunrise – as it climbs into the sky on a southern trajectory include:
Will there be sonic booms?
Residents of Santa Barbara County, San Luis Obispo County and Ventura County often stand to be the most likely to hear sonic booms, SpaceX has said.
The sonic booms brief, thunder-like noises that are often heard from the ground when a spacecraft or aircraft travels faster than the speed of sound, could last for up to 10 minutes after liftoff, Vandenberg said.
“Areas local to Vandenberg Space Force Base will hear the initial low rumble of take-off,” Vandenberg added.
What to know about booster re-entry
Following the launch, the Falcon 9 rocket’s booster will aim to land on a SpaceX drone ship, nicknamed “Of Course I Still Love You,” in the Pacific Ocean. This allows for SpaceX personnel to recover the booster so it can be reused in future spaceflights.
What is SpaceX?
Billionaire Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, founded SpaceX in 2002.
The commercial spaceflight company is headquartered at Starbase in South Texas near the U.S.-Mexico border. The site, which is where SpaceX has been conducting routine flight tests of its 400-foot megarocket known as Starship, was recently voted by residents to become its own city.
SpaceX conducts many of its own rocket launches, most using the Falcon 9 rocket, from California and Florida. That includes a regular cadence of deliveries of Starlink internet satellites into orbit, and occasional privately funded commercial crewed missions on the Dragon – the only U.S vehicle capable of carrying astronauts to the International Space Station.
The most recent of SpaceX’s private human spaceflights, a mission known as Fram2, took place in April 2025. SpaceX was also famously involved in funding and operating the headline-grabbing Polaris Dawn crewed commercial mission in September 2024.
SpaceX additionally benefits from billions of dollars in contracts from NASA and the Department of Defense by providing launch services for classified satellites and other payloads.
What is the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California?
The Vandenberg Space Force Base is a rocket launch site in Santa Barbara County in Southern California.
Established in 1941, the site was previously known as the Vandenberg Air Force Base. Though it’s a military base, the site also hosts both civil and commercial space launches for entities like NASA and SpaceX.
Space Launch Delta 30, a unit of Space Force, is responsible for managing the launch operations at Vandenberg, as well as the missile tests that take place at the base.
Contributing: Jennifer Sangalang, USA TODAY Network; Paris Barraza, Palm Springs Desert Sun
Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: SpaceX rocket launch before Thanksgiving in California? Spots to watch
Reporting by Eric Lagatta, USA TODAY NETWORK / Ventura County Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
