SpaceX launches classified USSF-385 mission for Space Force
SpaceX flew a classified Space Force mission from Vandenberg, the fourth in a suspected Starshield deployment series in six weeks.
what happened
SpaceX launched the classified USSF-385 mission for the U.S. Space Force from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base on Sept. 26, 2026 at 14:00:54 UTC, per Launch Library. The Falcon 9 first-stage booster, B1100, flew for the 10th time and landed on the droneship Of Course I Still Love You in the Pacific about eight and a half minutes after liftoff, its 10th successful landing, per Spaceflight Now. SpaceX withheld payload imagery at the customer's request and did not disclose the payload; Spaceflight Now and Teslarati both report it is thought to be the third in a series of flights deploying satellites based on SpaceX's Starshield, a government version of the Starlink bus.
why it matters
It is the fourth Space Force national-security launch from the same Vandenberg pad in six weeks (USSF-366, USSF-153, USSF-259, USSF-385), underscoring how heavily the Space Force now depends on SpaceX's West Coast cadence as Cape Canaveral shifts toward Starship operations.
signal-to-noise
quick facts
- Companies
- SpaceX
- Category
- launch
- Impact
- noise
- SNR
- 4 / 5
- Event date
- 2026-09-26
- Published
- 2026-09-26 17:25 UTC