SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB) in California, carrying a series of investigative missions and technology demonstrators designed to enable new capabilities and reduce time to launch, with several of them fielded under various NASA programs.
NASA’s TRACERS mission and other payloads launched from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) on Wednesday morning at 11:13 AM PDT (18:13 UTC), within an approximately one-hour and 15-minute window. Tuesday’s attempt was scrubbed due to an issue with the Range.
Falcon 9 flew out on a southerly trajectory from Vandenberg, with the first stage touching down safely at Landing Zone 4 (LZ-4) as part of a return-to-launch-site landing.