Launches / Falcon 9 Block 5

Past launch Launched successfully

SDA Tranche 1 Transport Layer E

Falcon 9 Block 5, flown by SpaceX

Falcon 9 Block 5 lifting off with the SDA Tranche 1 Transport Layer E mission
Image via The Space Devs.

This was SpaceX's 86th launch of 2026, and its 705th in all.

Counting every operator, it was the 169th orbital launch attempt anywhere in 2026, and the 45th from Space Launch Complex 4E.

Launched
Thursday, July 16, 2026, 8:32 p.m. UTC
Window
Thursday, July 16, 2026, 8:22 to 9:09 p.m. UTC
Launch site
Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA
Rocket
Falcon 9 Block 5
Operator
SpaceX
Weather
100% favorable

Watch the webcast →

The mission

Tranche 1 Transport Layer E is one of six missions by the United States Space Force Space Development Agency (SDA) for the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA) Tranche 1 Transport Layer constellation, which will provide assured, resilient, low-latency military data and connectivity worldwide to the full range of warfighter platforms from Low Earth Orbit satellites. The constellation will be interconnected with Optical Inter-Satellite Links (OISLs) which have significantly increased performance over existing radio frequency crosslinks. It is expected to operate over Ka band, have stereo coverage and be dynamically networked for simpler hand-offs, greater bandwidth and fault tolerance. This launch carries 21 satellites manufactured by York Space Systems.

Type
Government/top secret
Destination
Polar orbit

The rocket

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.

Height
70 m
Built by
SpaceX
First flew
May 11, 2018
Lifts to low Earth orbit
22,800 kg
View 5 specifications Show less
Lifts to geostationary transfer
8,300 kg
Diameter
3.7 m
Mass at liftoff
549 t
Thrust at liftoff
7,607 kN
Stages
2

627 flights, 626 of them successful. 612 boosters brought back from 617 attempts.

spacex.com → Wikipedia →

The climb

Reaches 463 km up and 2,337 km downrange in the 12 minutes after liftoff.
0 240 480 01.2k2.4k km up km downrange Separation T+2:22

First stage Second stage

Simulated from the published flight plan. The climb flattens as the rocket pitches over to build sideways speed, which is why a launch stays visible so far from the pad. A dashed line is a stage that separates and flies back down, either to the pad or to a ship waiting downrange.

Going to watch it in person? Flyby's Pathfinder points your camera at the pad, so you are not stood there guessing which one it goes up from. It puts this same climb on a globe you can turn, too.

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The operator

SpaceX

Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX, is an American aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by entrepreneur Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs and enabling the colonization of Mars. SpaceX operates from many pads, on the East Coast of the US they operate from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and historic LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center. They also operate from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, usually for polar launches. Another launch site is being developed at Boca Chica, Texas.

Sector
Commercial
Based in
USA
Founded
2002
Run by
Elon Musk, CEO

724 launches so far, 709 of them successful. The last 209 in a row went to plan.

spacex.com → Wikipedia →

The launch site

It went up from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA.

See the pad on a map →

Catch the next one instead

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