Vandenberg is planning a busy rocket launch schedule this fall. Here’s when to watch

Late summer and fall are shaping up to be busy with critical launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base, along with a unique satellite’s rendezvous with an asteroid months after arriving in orbit due to a Central Coast liftoff.

The National Reconnaissance Office recently released the planned launch date for the final Delta IV Heavy rocket from the West Coast.

A critical weather satellite continues marching toward its trip to space, and a fledgling rocket will return to flight after a launch failure.

This month’s activity will start as soon as this week with a missile test planned from Vandenberg early Wednesday morning.

Also this month, Firefly Aerospace has announced its planned return-to-flight following last year’s inaugural liftoff that ended dramatically.

The next demonstration launch, Flight 2, will aim for liftoff during a window opening at 3 p.m. Sept. 11.

Firefly’s Alpha rockets fly from Space Launch Complex-2, the former Delta II rocket facility, near Lompoc.

The company has cleared several key milestones. On Aug. 17, the team successfully conducted a static fire test, which included counting down to zero but remaining earthbound to test various systems.

Firefly’s inaugural mission ended in a fireball after an engine prematurely shut down and doomed the flight.

Because of one missing engine — and the lack of thrust from that engine — the rocket’s climb rate was slow, and it struggled to maintain control, Firefly said.

That led to the rocket tumbling out of control as video showed the booster completing a flip.

The mission ended in a fireball and sent debris onto Orcutt neighborhoods.

Meanwhile, NRO, the nation’s spy satellite agency, recently confirmed the United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket will target for a Sept. 24 liftoff from Space Launch Complex-6 on South Base.

The launch window remains top secret, but as the departure date nears, NRO officials will release a launch period, typically longer than the window, and then the targeted launch time.

“This is the last Delta IV Heavy launch from the #WestCoast, don’t miss out!” the spy satellite agency said on Twitter.

Another team has ramped up its activities to ready for a planned Nov. 1 launch of an Atlas V rocket.

The ULA booster will carry the newest in the nation’s next-generation polar-orbiting weather satellite, the Joint Polar Satellite System or JPSS-2, plus a secondary payload.

The JPSS program involves both NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Along with heralding the arrival of rocket components, officials recently announced the shipment of the JPSS-2 satellite from the Northrop Grumman Corp. facility in Arizona to Vandenberg.

The team has unboxed the spacecraft and intends to undertake final preparations to ready the craft for its trip into space.

Although Space Exploration Technologies has had a busy year already, Vandenberg’s manifest also includes additional Falcon 9 rocket missions carrying payloads for the Defense Department and NASA.

A Falcon launch for the Space Development Agency’s new missile tracking and data relay satellite reportedly won’t occur before late September.

NASA and the French space agency recently announced plans for a Dec. 5 departure of a Falcon rocket carrying a Surface Water and Ocean Topography, or SWOT, satellite.

Officials said the SWOT project team shifted the launch date to complete its necessary tasks, including transporting the satellite from Cannes, France, to Vandenberg.

Additionally, tests of unarmed Minuteman missiles also may be likely due to delays earlier this year.

Launch dates can slip due to a number of factors, including technical troubles with the rocket, payload or ground systems, unfavorable weather, and scheduling issues.

This fall also will bring a first-of-its kind mission with a Vandenberg connection, due to the planned rendezvous of a planetary defense spacecraft and an asteroid.

The Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Nov. 24 from Vandenberg.

The spacecraft will aim to nudge a target asteroid, not considered a threat to Earth, on Sept. 26.

Scientists hope to show a spacecraft can autonomously navigate to a target asteroid and intentionally collide with it to change the direction in a way that can be measured using ground-based telescopes.

Data from the DART mission may help better prepare for an asteroid posing an impact hazard to Earth, should one ever be discovered, officials said.