SpaceX Launches Classified USSF-432: Sunset Liftoff From Vandenberg Ends the Delays

The wait is over. A SpaceX Falcon 9 lifted off from Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 4:48 p.m. PT on Friday, November 6 — 7:48 p.m. ET, and 00:48 UTC on November 7 — carrying the classified USSF-432 mission for the U.S. Space Force, SpaceX confirmed on its mission page.

It closes the story WorldEye has followed all week: the mission was first previewed for a November 3 window, then slipped again to Friday evening. Spaceflight Now reported the flight was originally scheduled for November 1 and was delayed repeatedly — first by the knock-on effects of the Starlink 15-18 launch, and then for reasons that were not disclosed. On Friday, at the opening of its window, it finally flew.

Liftoff came at 4:48 p.m. PT on Friday, November 6, 2026 — two minutes into the four-hour window that had opened at 4:46 p.m. PT. The launch happened as the sun sank toward the Pacific, and SpaceX cut its webcast about ten minutes into the flight, shortly after the first stage came back to Earth, Space.com reported.

The backup opportunity SpaceX had listed for Saturday, November 7 at 4:32 p.m. PT was not needed.

Yes. The first stage, booster B1095, landed on the droneship Of Course I Still Love You, stationed downrange in the Pacific Ocean — completing its eighth flight. SpaceX said the booster previously launched the GPS III-8 mission and six Starlink missions.

USSF-432 was the 119th Falcon 9 launch of 2026 and the 14th national-security flight of the rocket so far this year, according to Space.com's count. The upper stage continued carrying the payload skyward after the webcast ended.

Officially, that remains undisclosed. Neither SpaceX nor the Space Force has described the spacecraft, its count, or its mission, and Spaceflight Now noted that neither has confirmed a successful satellite deployment on the previous flights in this series either.

What is known comes from public documents and outside tracking. The mission is also identified as R-4, and Spaceflight Now reported that each R launch in the series has placed 23 satellites in orbit, according to orbital catalog entries. Jonathan McDowell, the widely followed tracker of space launches, assesses the R satellites as part of the Space Force's Space Based Sensing and Targeting program. NextSpaceflight's mission description, quoted by Space.com, says the payload is possibly a batch of classified low-Earth-orbit satellites based on SpaceX's Starshield satellite bus — an assessment based on the rocket stage drop zones matching previous Starlink Group 15 launches, not an official confirmation.

The mission's path to Friday was a study in how crowded Vandenberg has become. Originally scheduled for November 1, USSF-432 was delayed repeatedly — first due to delays of the Starlink 15-18 launch, which itself flew on October 30 as the 700th Falcon 9 mission, and then for reasons that were not disclosed, Spaceflight Now reported.

Each slip moved the target by days, not weeks: November 1 became a November 3 evening window, which became Friday, November 6. The Friday attempt needed no further patience — the rocket left the pad two minutes after the window opened.

Classified payloads do not come with a public manifest, but everything in orbit is tracked. WorldEye's satellite tracker follows the catalogued objects circling Earth, and the space station tracker keeps the International Space Station's position live on the same globe — two of the tracking layers drawn from the site's 74,229 cameras and data feeds.

Whatever USSF-432 carried will join the orbital catalog in the coming days under tracking numbers rather than a name. The launch itself, though, is now a matter of record: Friday, 4:48 p.m. PT, SLC-4E.