Launches / Falcon 9 Block 5

Past launch Launched successfully

TRACERS

Falcon 9 Block 5, flown by SpaceX

Falcon 9 Block 5 lifting off with the TRACERS mission
Image via The Space Devs.

This was SpaceX's 93rd launch of 2025, and its 542nd in all.

Counting every operator, it was the 158th orbital launch attempt anywhere in 2025, and the 31st from Space Launch Complex 4E.

Launched
Wednesday, July 23, 2025, 6:13 p.m. UTC
Window
Wednesday, July 23, 2025, 6:13 to 7:10 p.m. UTC
Launch site
Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA
Rocket
Falcon 9 Block 5
Operator
SpaceX
Weather
99% favorable

Watch the webcast →

The mission

NASA's Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites (TRACERS) mission, consisting of two identical satellites that will orbit Earth in tandem (one following the other), will help understand magnetic re-connection and its effects in Earth’s atmosphere. Magnetic re-connection occurs when activity from the Sun interacts with Earth’s magnetic field. By understanding this process, scientists will be able to better understand and prepare for impacts of solar activity on Earth. Hitchhiking small satellites: * Athena EPIC (Economical Payload Integration Cost) * Polylingual Experimental Terminal (PExT) * Relativistic Electron Atmospheric Loss (REAL)

Type
Heliophysics
Destination
Sun-synchronous 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 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 →

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