🚀 Falcon 9 | 🛰 Starlink Group 15-4
Launch date: May 13, 2025 01:15 UTC
Payload: Starlink Group 15-4
Location: SLC-4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California
Vehicle: Falcon 9
SpaceX completed the Starlink Group 15-4 mission with Falcon 9 from Vandenberg SFB on May 13, 2025 at 01:15 UTC (6:15 p.m. PDT, May 12), deploying 26 satellites into a 267 x 279 km low-Earth orbit inclined at 70.01°. The rocket flew a southeast trajectory and booster B1088-6 landed on ‘Of Course I Still Love You.’ This was the 56th Falcon 9 flight of 2025 and the third Starlink Group 15 launch from Vandenberg, with extensive media and SpaceX coverage of the event.
Videos
SLC-4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, USA
Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) is part of the larger Space Launch Complex 4 at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. Originally built as Launch Complex 75-1-2 and used by the U.S. Air Force for Atlas-Agena and Titan rockets in the 1960s and 1970s, it was later refurbished by SpaceX beginning in 2011. SpaceX rebuilt the facility to support Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches aimed at sun-synchronous and polar orbits—trajectories best served from Vandenberg.
The first Falcon 9 launch from SLC-4E took place in September 2013. Since then, it has become SpaceX’s primary West Coast launch site, supporting both government and commercial payloads, including earth observation and reconnaissance satellites. In addition to supporting reusable launch vehicle operations, SLC-4E also hosts infrastructure for rocket landing and recovery, helping to advance SpaceX’s reusability efforts.