On Tuesday, the U.S. Space Force approved SpaceX’s second rocket launch complex lease at a California military installation for its fifth U.S. launch site.
SpaceX will launch its Falcon rockets from Space Launch Complex-6 at Vandenberg Space Force Base, a military launch facility north of Los Angeles. It includes two Florida locations and a private Starbase in south Texas.
Space Launch Delta 30 commander Col. Rob Long signed a letter of support for the decision on Friday, according to a Monday night Space Force statement. The announcement didn’t disclose SpaceX’s lease period.
SpaceX’s new launch pad, abandoned last year by the Boeing-Lockheed joint venture United Launch Alliance, allows it to accommodate a growing commercial, government, and internal satellite launch schedule.
Weather-monitoring, military, and espionage satellites that employ polar Earth orbits can be launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in a southern trajectory over the Pacific Ocean.
SpaceX’s allocation of Space Launch Complex-6 comes as rocket firms prepare to bid for the Pentagon’s Phase 3 National Security Space Launch program, a major military launch procurement endeavor set to begin next year.
