RecapLAUNCH SUCCESSFULLive

USSF-⁠153

Falcon 9Vandenberg, California

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Mission

USSF-⁠153 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 rocket stage drop zones being exact fits with previous Starlink Group 15 launches.

Falcon 9 launched USSF-⁠153 from Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-⁠4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. This was the 27th flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, B1081, which previously launched Starlink 17-⁠52. After stage separation, the first stage landed on the Of Course I Still Love You droneship.

Launched
08:42 PDT at the pad
Rocket
Falcon 9 Block 5SpaceX
Destination
Low Earth Orbit
Launch site
Space Launch Complex 4E, Vandenberg, California58th launch from this pad in 20264 days after the last
Latest update
Launch success.

27th

Flight of B1081

574km

Downrange landing, OCISLY

108th

SpaceX launch of 2026

41days

Since B1081’s last flight

Countdown

All times approximate, in your time zone (CEST)Timeline: The Space Devs

  1. T−00:38:00GO for Prop Load
  2. T−00:35:00Prop Load
  3. T−00:35:00Stage 1 LOX Load1st stage
  4. T−00:16:00Stage 2 LOX Load2nd stage
  5. T−00:07:00Engine Chill
  6. T−00:01:00Tank Press
  7. T−00:01:00Startup
  8. T−00:00:45GO for Launch
  9. T−00:00:03Ignition

Mission profile

From liftoff to orbit

  1. SLC-4E
  2. OCISLY574 km downrange
  3. LiftoffT+00:00:00
  4. Max-⁠QT+00:01:07
  5. Stage separationT+00:02:29
  6. FairingT+00:02:55
  7. LandingT+00:08:26
  1. SLC-4E
  2. OCISLY574 km downrange
  3. LiftoffT+00:00:00
  4. Stage separationT+00:02:29
  5. LandingT+00:08:26
Schematic, not to scale. Times: The Space Devs. Tap a moment for more.Point at a moment for more.

Flight

All times approximate, in your time zone (CEST)Timeline: The Space Devs

  1. T+00:00:00Liftoff
  2. T+00:01:07Max-⁠Q
  3. T+00:02:26MECO
  4. T+00:02:29Stage 2 Separation
  5. T+00:02:35SES-⁠12nd stage
  6. T+00:02:55Fairing Separation2nd stage
  7. T+00:06:06Entry Burn Startup1st stage
  8. T+00:06:30Entry Burn Shutdown1st stage
  9. T+00:08:04Stage 1 Landing Burn1st stage
  10. T+00:08:26Stage 1 Landing1st stage

Falcon 9 Block 5

SpaceXReusable634 launches since May 2018, 633 successful

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  • BoosterB108127th flightpreviously Starlink 17-⁠52Landed on Of Course I Still Love You (OCISLY)
About Falcon 9 Block 5

Falcon 9 is a two-stage rocket designed and manufactured by SpaceX for the reliable and safe transport of satellites and the Dragon spacecraft into orbit. The Block 5 variant is the fifth major interval aimed at improving upon the ability for rapid reusability.

70m

Height

3.7m

Diameter

549t

Mass at liftoff

7,607kN

Thrust at liftoff

23t

Payload to low Earth orbit

8.3t

Payload to geostationary transfer orbit

In orbit now

The crewed stations, Hubble and Starlink 31-⁠1, once around the Earth every 90 to 94 minutes

SpacecraftAltitudeSpeed
ISSDocked: Crew-⁠12, Soyuz MS-⁠29In Earth’s shadow433km27,552km/h
TiangongDocked: Shenzhou-⁠23In Earth’s shadow393km27,633km/h
HubbleIn Earth’s shadow473km27,473km/h
Starlink 31-⁠126 satellites from Starship Flight 14, launched 2 days ago; numbers for the first in lineIn sunlight266km27,906km/h

Estimated for from CelesTrak’s orbital elements, Starlink 31-⁠1’s fitted to SpaceX’s own data, up to 17 h old.

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