SpaceX Falcon 9’s Last Confirmed Vandenberg Launch of 2025 Set for December 16

SpaceX is gearing up for its December 16 Falcon 9 launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, deploying a new batch of Starlink satellites. As of now, it is the last confirmed mission from the site this year.

The spaceflight company will launch 27 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit on Tuesday. The Falcon 9 rocket is expected to liftoff at 7:24 a.m. PT.  

A live webcam of the mission can be viewed shortly before the liftoff on SpaceX’s page on X, on their website, and in the X TV app.

This will be the 30th flight for the first-stage booster supporting the mission, according to SpaceX. The booster has previously supported missions including Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich, DART, Transporter-7, Iridium OneWeb, SDA-0B, NROL-113, NROL-167, NROL-149, NAOS, and multiple Starlink missions.

After stage separation, the first stage is expected to land on the ‘Of Course I Still Love You’ droneship stationed in the Pacific Ocean.

Residents of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Ventura counties could hear one or more sonic booms during the launch, SpaceX said. Residents’ experiences typically depend on weather and other atmospheric conditions.

December 13 Launch Rattled Windows

During a Falcon 9 launch from Vandenberg on December 13, 2025, sonic booms rattled windows across parts of the Central Coast, Edhat reported.

Edhat readers on the South Coast said the walls and windows of their homes shook from the sonic boom.

One reader described the sonic boom as feeling like “a bomb went off down the street. Car alarms went off, and dogs were barking like crazy.”

Falcon 9 launches 27 @Starlink satellites from California pic.twitter.com/eyYDpBFamK

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) December 14, 2025

SpaceX describes a sonic boom as a brief, thunder-like noise created when an aircraft or other object travels faster than the speed of sound. As it moves through the air, it pushes air aside, forming pressure waves that eventually reach the ground.

No Further SpaceX Missions Announced From Vandenberg

In addition to the December 16 launch from Vandenberg, SpaceX’s website lists two additional Starlink missions from Florida, targeted for December 17 and late December 19 into early December 20, depending on the launch window.

There are no further scheduled missions from Vandenberg so far. SpaceX could still add more launches before the end of the year, but no further missions have been officially announced.

On December 15, 2025, SpaceX marked the 100th Falcon 9 launch of the year with a mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, deploying 29 Starlink satellites, the company announced on X.

Starlink Mission

Starlink is one of the most advanced satellite constellations that uses a low-Earth orbit to deliver broadband internet capable of supporting streaming, video calls, online gaming, and more, according to SpaceX.

While traditional satellite internet typically depends on single geostationary satellites orbiting the planet at 35,786  kilometers, Starlink uses a constellation of thousands of satellites that orbit the planet much closer to Earth, at about 550 kilometers. This helps to significantly reduce latency and improve reliability.