How to watch Starlink Group 15-18

Tue, Oct 27, 9:31 PM PDT

Wed, Oct 28, 04:31 UTC · launch window 240 minutes

Falcon 9 Block 5 · SpaceX · Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

Add this launch to your calendar (.ics) · every launch from Vandenberg

How firm is the date: Go for launch (confirmed by the provider)
Date history: No date change recorded for this launch.
At the pad when the window opens: Night launch. The sun is well below the horizon. The engine flame is visible from far away on a clear night; the plume is not lit by the sun.

Watch online

Watch in person

Straight-line distance from each place to the Vandenberg pad we use for geometry; what you can see follows from the distance. The public viewing spots, fees and road closures are in the Vandenberg viewing guide.

Santa Barbara54 mi (87 km), look WNW
The whole ascent, low on the horizon.
Los Angeles141 mi (227 km), look WNW
A rising light on the horizon: night launches only.
San Diego238 mi (384 km), look NW
A rising light on the horizon: night launches only.

Vandenberg Space Force Base (official site)

Plan a trip: every Vandenberg launch in your dates

What to expect

We have not checked this mission's landing plan by hand. If a booster flies back to a landing zone on land, its landing brings a sonic boom; the provider's mission page says where the booster lands.
Sound travels about a kilometre every 3 seconds (a mile every 5), so at a distance you see liftoff before you hear it.

Will it go on time?

A launch date is a "no earlier than" target. Weather, a technical hold, the range or a boat in the hazard area can each stop a count on the day, and the provider then names a new time. We do not publish launch odds we cannot back; here is what we recorded.

Of the 10 launches that have flown from Vandenberg since we started recording date changes on Aug 29, 2026, 9 (90%) had the date or time moved at least once after we first recorded it, and 2 (20%) slipped by a day or more.
Of the 38 launches that have flown from every site we track since we started recording date changes on Aug 29, 2026, 24 (63%) had the date or time moved at least once after we first recorded it, and 6 (16%) slipped by a day or more.

Sources

Launch time, status and pad: the Launch Library 2 manifest as synced by SpaceNexus; times move, and this page follows them.
Day or night: computed from the sun's position at the pad at the time shown. Distances: computed from coordinates.

The launch page: countdown, stream, date history →Every Vandenberg launch this month →Where to watch at Vandenberg →Which launches slip, and by how much →

Newsletter

Watch online

Watch in person

What to expect

Will it go on time?

Sources