Launch week: September 21-27, 2026
Four dated launches fill September 21-27 UTC, led by the classified USSF-385 Falcon 9 from Vandenberg and Rocket Lab's 13th Electron for Synspective, with two Chinese payloads still undisclosed.
Four dated orbital launches fill the September 21–27, 2026 UTC week, and three of them land on two days. Two Long March flights leave Chinese spaceports on Wednesday and Thursday, then Saturday brings a pair: Rocket Lab's 13th Electron for Synspective at 00:15 UTC, followed by a classified U.S. Space Force Falcon 9 from Vandenberg at 11:56 UTC. NASA, ESA, Blue Origin and ISRO have nothing dated inside the window. The uncertainty this week sits on payloads: CASC has published none for either Long March, and the two tracking services that name the Falcon 9 booster disagree on its tail number. 12
All times below are Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).
NET marks a target that has not been fixed, meaning no earlier than; TBD marks a field nobody has announced yet.Quick schedule
| UTC date and window | Mission and vehicle | Operator | Launch site and pad | Payload and destination | Status and webcast |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 23, 13:30 Window 13:24–13:49 | Unknown Payload Long March 8A | CASC | Wenchang Space Launch Site, Commercial LC-1 | Undisclosed. Two-stage kerolox vehicle with two strap-on boosters, rated for 9,800 kg to low Earth orbit. | On schedule. No public webcast announced. 34 |
| Sep 24, 08:45 Window 08:38–09:04 | Unknown Payload Long March 6A | CASC | Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, LC-9A | Undisclosed. Two-stage kerolox vehicle with four strap-on boosters, rated for 5,000 kg to low Earth orbit. | On schedule. No public webcast announced. 5 |
| Sep 26, 00:15 ( NET) | Owlright, Owlright, Owlright Electron | Rocket Lab for Synspective | Māhia Peninsula, New Zealand, Launch Complex 1 Pad B | One StriX synthetic-aperture radar satellite for Japan's Synspective constellation, to 559 km low Earth orbit at 37° inclination. | NET September 26. Live stream opens about 30 minutes before liftoff on Rocket Lab's live-stream page. 67 |
| Sep 26, 11:56 Window 11:56–14:56 | USSF-385 Falcon 9 Block 5 | SpaceX for U.S. Space Force | Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, SLC-4E | Classified national security payload to low Earth orbit; first stage on its 10th flight, landing on the droneship Of Course I Still Love You. | On schedule. Live webcast on SpaceX's USSF-385 page from about 10 minutes before liftoff. 89 |
Mission cards
Long March 8A: a commercial-pad launch from Hainan
CASC has the week's first flight set for 13:30 UTC on Wednesday, September 23 (21:30 Beijing time), with a window running 13:24–13:49 UTC. Liftoff is from Commercial Launch Complex 1 at the Wenchang Space Launch Site on Hainan Island, on a southeasterly track over the South China Sea. 3
The Long March 8A is a 3.35-meter-diameter, two-stage kerolox rocket with two strap-on boosters, rated for 9,800 kg to low Earth orbit and 3,500 kg to geostationary transfer orbit. It has flown 11 times, and this would be its fifth mission of 2026. 3
CASC has not named a payload or a customer. The tracker record lists both payload and vehicle identity as uncertain, so treat the satellite complement as unknown rather than merely unpublished. Earlier listings carried this flight for September 11. No live stream has been announced. 310
Long March 6A: a polar flight from Taiyuan
The second CASC flight is set for 08:45 UTC on Thursday, September 24 (16:45 Beijing time) from Launch Complex 9A at the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in Shanxi Province, with a window of 08:38–09:04 UTC. 5
The Long March 6A is a two-stage kerolox vehicle with four strap-on boosters and a payload capacity of 5,000 kg to low Earth orbit. Its trajectory from Taiyuan heads south, the pattern used for Sun-synchronous missions. This would be the vehicle's 27th flight and its eighth of 2026. 5
The payload is undisclosed, and the tracker record again marks both payload and vehicle identity as uncertain. No live stream has been announced.
Owlright, Owlright, Owlright: Rocket Lab's 13th Synspective flight
Rocket Lab's next Electron launch is scheduled
NET 00:15 UTC on Saturday, September 26 (12:15 p.m. New Zealand time) from Launch Complex 1 Pad B on the Māhia Peninsula. The launch time is a planning target rather than a fixed liftoff, and Rocket Lab has published no launch window. 6Electron carries a single StriX synthetic-aperture radar satellite for Synspective into a 559-kilometer low Earth orbit at 37° inclination. Synspective's satellites image the ground in radar, which works through cloud and at night, for urban development planning, infrastructure monitoring and disaster response. 6
This is Rocket Lab's 13th dedicated mission for Synspective, which has used Electron as its sole launch vehicle since 2020 and has 14 more missions booked before 2030. The previous Synspective flight, Owl By The Dozen, launched on September 19. The live stream opens about 30 minutes before liftoff on Rocket Lab's live-stream page. 611
USSF-385: a classified Space Force flight from Vandenberg
SpaceX is targeting 11:56 UTC on Saturday, September 26 (4:56 a.m. PDT) for a Falcon 9 launch of USSF-385 from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The three-hour window runs to 14:56 UTC, and a backup opportunity is available on Sunday, September 27 at 12:49 UTC. 28
The payload is classified. The tracker record suggests a batch of low Earth orbit satellites built on SpaceX's Starshield bus, inferred from stage drop zones that match earlier Starlink Group 15 flights, and lists the mission as "R-3". Treat the satellite count and destination orbit as unconfirmed. 9
The first stage is making its 10th flight, with NROL-95 and eight Starlink missions behind it, and lands on the droneship Of Course I Still Love You in the Pacific about eight minutes after liftoff. SpaceX does not publish the tail number; Next Spaceflight and Space Launch Now both identify the booster as B1100, while Spaceflight Now reports B1096. 28912
Residents of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura counties may hear one or more sonic booms as the booster comes back. Live coverage starts about 10 minutes before the window opens on the SpaceX USSF-385 page and on X @SpaceX. 8
Watch priorities
- USSF-385, September 26 at 11:56 UTC. The week's only U.S. launch and its most watchable: a pre-dawn Pacific liftoff from Vandenberg with a droneship landing eight minutes later, and sonic booms possible across three California counties. SpaceX's stream opens at 11:46 UTC. 8
- Owlright, Owlright, Owlright, September 26 at 00:15 UTC. The only flight this week with a named customer and a named payload. A Saturday-afternoon New Zealand launch means the stream lands in a convenient European and North American evening slot; Rocket Lab's coverage starts around 23:45 UTC on Friday. 6
- Long March 8A, September 23, and Long March 6A, September 24. Both times are firm enough to put in a calendar, and neither offers anything to watch live: CASC has announced no webcast, and the payloads are undisclosed. They matter as launch-cadence data points from China's state contractor, which is running about two orbital attempts a week in September. 35
Operator tracking notes
- NASA. No launch of its own this week. The next one is Crew-13, a Falcon 9 flight of the Crew Dragon Grace to the International Space Station, targeted for
NETOctober 1 at 15:10 UTC from Cape Canaveral's SLC-40, with the four-person crew already in quarantine. 213 - ESA. Nothing from Europe's Spaceport this week. The next European flight is Amazon Leo LE-04 on an Ariane 64 from the Guiana Space Centre, listed at
NETOctober 7. 14 - SpaceX. One launch this week, USSF-385 on September 26. Beyond it, Starship Flight 14 has slipped from September 18 to
NETSeptember 28 at 12:15 UTC from Starbase, and Starlink Group 15-25 is listed for September 30 at 16:00 UTC from Vandenberg. 1516 - Rocket Lab. One launch this week, Owlright, Owlright, Owlright on September 26. The company's previous Synspective mission, Owl By The Dozen, flew on September 19 from Launch Complex 1. 11
- Blue Origin. No launch this week. The next Blue Origin flight on the books is a New Glenn mission for Eutelsat from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral, dated November 2026. 17
- ISRO. No launch this week. The agency's most recent mission was GSLV-F17, which launched EOS-05 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre on September 4. 18
References
- 1Next Spaceflight - current launch manifest
nextspaceflight.com
- 2Spaceflight Now - Launch Schedule
spaceflightnow.com
- 3Next Spaceflight - Long March 8A
nextspaceflight.com
- 4Space Launch Schedule - Long March 8A
spacelaunchschedule.com
- 5Next Spaceflight - Long March 6A
nextspaceflight.com
- 6Rocket Lab - Owlright, Owlright, Owlright
rocketlabusa.com
- 7Space Launch Schedule - Electron, Owlright, Owlright, Owlright
spacelaunchschedule.com
- 8SpaceX - USSF-385 Mission
spacex.com
- 9Next Spaceflight - USSF-385
nextspaceflight.com
- 10RocketLaunch.Live - launch schedule
rocketlaunch.live
- 11Rocket Lab - completed and upcoming missions
rocketlabusa.com
- 12Space Launch Now - USSF-385
spacelaunchnow.app
- 13
- 14Next Spaceflight - Amazon Leo LE-04
nextspaceflight.com
- 15Next Spaceflight - Starship Flight 14
nextspaceflight.com
- 16Space Launch Schedule - upcoming launches
spacelaunchschedule.com
- 17RocketLaunch.Live - Blue Origin schedule
rocketlaunch.live
- 18ISRO - Launch Missions
isro.gov.in
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