Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 15-22
SpaceX launched Falcon 9 Block 5 carrying Starlink Group 15-22 from Space Launch Complex 4E, Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA at 2026-08-26 09:35:11Z. The launch flew and reached its intended orbit.
COUNTDOWN
FLIGHT PLAN
The window opened at 2026-08-26 09:27:00Z and closed at 2026-08-26 13:27:00Z. The launch vehicle successfully inserted its payload(s) into the target orbit(s).
FIELD KIT / OPTICS
Where to start if the plan is a real telescope in a real back garden.
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Celestron FirstScope 76 mm Tabletop Telescope
76 mm of aperture on a tabletop mount with nothing to align: put it on a step, point it, look. The entry point of the whole category — it comes with no finder, which is the trade — and enough scope to show lunar craters and Jupiter's four bright moons.
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Beginner Dobsonians
The category most experienced observers point a beginner at: aperture on a simple rocker mount, with no motors to fail. A starting point for browsing rather than a specific pick — compare 130 mm and 150 mm before buying.
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Beginner refractors
Lighter and quicker to set up than a Dobsonian, weaker on faint deep-sky objects. Worth browsing if the scope has to live in a cupboard and come out on a whim.
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MISSION BRIEF
A batch of 27 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
SOURCE: LAUNCH LIBRARY 2 // THE SPACE DEVS
LAUNCH CORRIDOR
- Due east
- The lowest orbit inclination a direct launch from here can reach — 34.6°, which is this pad’s own latitude. It also collects the most free speed from Earth’s rotation.
- Due south
- The polar and sun-synchronous corridor: 90° inclination, passing over both poles. It gets no help from Earth’s spin, which is why it costs more payload.
Drag the globe to turn it. The shading is the real terminator, and it moves.
A globe of the Earth centred on Space Launch Complex 4E at latitude 34.63 degrees north, longitude 120.61 degrees west. Two curved lines leave the pad. The solid gold line runs due east and marks the lowest orbital inclination a direct launch from this site can reach, 34.6 degrees, equal to the pad’s latitude of 34.6 degrees. The dashed cyan line runs due south and marks the polar corridor at 90 degrees inclination. The darkened part of the globe is the night side. Surface wind is blowing from 32°, at 18 km/h, shown as the cyan arrow at the pad.
LAUNCH SITE
Space Launch Complex 4E
Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA, United States of America
OBSERVED 2026-08-28 00:45:00Z // OPEN-METEO (CC BY 4.0) // GENERAL CONDITIONS, NOT LAUNCH CRITERIA
Minimum direct inclination 35°. From 35° north of the equator, a direct ascent cannot enter an orbit inclined less than 35°, because an orbit of inclination i never passes over latitudes beyond ±i. Reaching an equatorial plane — what a geostationary transfer ultimately needs — therefore costs a plane change of 35° somewhere in the flight, while inclinations of 35° and above are available straight off the pad. The ground here is carried eastward at about 383 m/s (465 m/s at the equator, falling with the cosine of latitude), and a due-east launch keeps that head start.
DATUM WGS-84 // EQUIRECTANGULAR PROJECTION // ORBIT FIGURES DERIVED FROM THE PUBLISHED LATITUDE
PAD CONDITIONS
SURFACE WIND @ 10 M
18km/h
Blowing from the north-north-east, bearing 32 degrees
GUSTING
33km/h
Clear sky
SOURCE: OPEN-METEO CC BY 4.0
The observed block is general weather for the coordinates of Space Launch Complex 4E, not launch-commit criteria. Those are written per mission by the operator and the range, cover conditions this forecast does not carry at all (electric fields, cloud layers aloft, winds through the vehicle’s own load limits), and are published only by the operator. Wind is a common reason countdowns stop for weather — that is general context, not a rule about this flight, and no number in this block is a threshold. Nothing here is a go or no-go call, and no operator figure was published for this attempt.
COMMON QUESTIONS
What time did Falcon 9 Block 5 · Starlink Group 15-22 launch?
Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 15-22 lifted off at 2026-08-26 09:35:11Z, flown by SpaceX. The window opened at 2026-08-26 09:27:00Z and closed at 2026-08-26 13:27:00Z. The launch flew and reached its intended orbit.
Where can I watch Falcon 9 Block 5 · Starlink Group 15-22 again?
SpaceX streamed Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 15-22 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUSimYVey_c, and operators normally leave the recording up at the same address after the flight.
What was Falcon 9 Block 5 · Starlink Group 15-22 carrying?
A batch of 27 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
Where did Falcon 9 Block 5 · Starlink Group 15-22 launch from?
Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 15-22 lifted off from Space Launch Complex 4E, Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA, United States of America. The pad sits at 34.6320, -120.6110.