Follow-Up: Falcon 9 Launches Classified USSF-481 Mission From Vandenberg as Booster B1081 Lands at Sea on Its 28th Flight
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 5:01 p.m. PDT on Thursday, October 15, from Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, carrying the U.S. Space Force's classified USSF-481 mission. SpaceX confirmed liftoff in a post on its official account shortly afterward; the liftoff time matched the targeted 5:01 p.m. PDT (0001 UTC on October 16). The rocket flew a southerly trajectory after leaving the pad.
GSM previewed the launch on October 14: the original four-hour window was to open at 4:44 p.m. PDT on October 15 and close at 8:44 p.m. On launch day, SpaceX targeted liftoff at 5:01 p.m. within that window, the rocket launched at that time, and the backup opportunity on Friday, October 16, at 4:35 p.m. PDT was not needed.
The first-stage booster, tail number B1081, flew for the 28th time on this mission. After stage separation, the booster returned and, about eight minutes after liftoff, landed on the Of Course I Still Love You droneship stationed in the Pacific Ocean. SpaceX confirmed the landing in an official post at 5:12 p.m. PDT. B1081 previously launched the Crew-7 crewed mission, the CRS-29 cargo mission, NASA's PACE and EarthCARE science missions, the National Reconnaissance Office's NROL-186, the Space Force's USSF-153, and 16 Starlink missions, among others.
The nature and purpose of the USSF-481 payload have not been publicly disclosed, and neither SpaceX nor the U.S. Space Force released further payload details. Because the mission is classified, the launch webcast provided no views from the rocket's second stage after stage separation, and officials had not announced a payload deployment status as of publication.
It was the second launch of the week from Vandenberg: on the afternoon of October 12, another Falcon 9 lifted off from the same pad carrying 27 Starlink satellites, as GSM reported earlier.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：执行USSF-481任务的猎鹰9号火箭矗立于范登堡太空军基地SLC-4E发射台（发射前）。图：SpaceX官方发布，来源：SpaceX USSF-481任务页
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- 2026-10-15Follow-Up: Falcon 9 Launches Classified USSF-481 Mission From Vandenberg as Booster B1081 Lands at Sea on Its 28th FlightThis story
