{"id":62763,"date":"2026-07-16T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/?guid=5339ccc95470e60bcfecd08c633e3970"},"modified":"2026-07-16T21:29:06","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T21:29:06","slug":"watch-spacex-launch-21-data-transport-satellites-for-us-military-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/2026\/07\/16\/watch-spacex-launch-21-data-transport-satellites-for-us-military-today\/","title":{"rendered":"SpaceX launches 21 &#8216;data transport&#8217; satellites for US military (video, photos)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n                            \n                            <article>\n                                <iframe src=\"https:\/\/content.jwplatform.com\/players\/8wuV5d27.html\" id=\"8wuV5d27\" title=\"SpaceX launches 21 satellites for US military, sticks landing in Pacific\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"auto\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><p>Starship isn't the only SpaceX rocket flying today.<\/p><p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/18962-spacex-falcon-9.html\"><u>Falcon 9<\/u><\/a> rocket launched from California's <a href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/34147-vandenberg-air-force-base.html\"><u>Vandenberg Space Force Base<\/u><\/a> today (July 16), carrying 21 satellites for the U.S. military's advanced new \"Tranche 1 Transport Layer\" (T1TL) constellation to orbit.<\/p><p>Liftoff took place at 4:32 p.m. EDT (2032 GMT; 1:32 p.m. local California time). <\/p><figure class=\"van-image-figure  inline-layout\" data-bordeaux-image-check ><div class='image-full-width-wrapper'><div class='image-widthsetter' style=\"max-width:2827px;\"><p class=\"vanilla-image-block\" style=\"padding-top:56.24%;\"><img id=\"oAE9hDEmYnk6fqRk4cjtc9\" name=\"Screenshot 2026-07-16 at 1.33.31\u202fPM\" alt=\"A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches the Third Tranche 1 Mission for the U.S. Space Development Agency from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on July 16, 2026.\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/oAE9hDEmYnk6fqRk4cjtc9.jpg\" mos=\"\" align=\"middle\" fullscreen=\"\" width=\"2827\" height=\"1590\" attribution=\"\" endorsement=\"\" class=\"inline\"><\/p><\/div><\/div><figcaption itemprop=\"caption description\" class=\" inline-layout\"><span class=\"caption-text\">A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches the Third Tranche 1 Mission for the U.S. Space Development Agency from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on July 16, 2026. <\/span><span class=\"credit\" itemprop=\"copyrightHolder\">(Image credit: SpaceX)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure><p>SpaceX's <a href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/spacex-starship-super-heavy.html\"><u>Starship<\/u><\/a> megarocket \u2014 the biggest and most powerful launch vehicle ever built \u2014 is slated to make its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/space-exploration\/launches-spacecraft\/how-to-watch-spacex-launch-starship-flight-13-on-july-16\"><u>13th test flight<\/u><\/a> a few hours later. It will lift off from the company's Starbase site in South Texas during a 90-minute window that opens at 6:45 p.m. EDT (2245 GMT; 5:45 p.m. local Texas time).<\/p><p>SpaceX will stream that mission live, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/live\/WXHd014xLjQ\"><u>Space.com will carry the feed<\/u><\/a>. Coverage will begin about half an hour before launch.<\/p><p>Today's Falcon 9 flight helps assemble the T1TL, a network in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/low-earth-orbit\"><u>low Earth orbit<\/u><\/a> (LEO) that will be operated by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/us-space-force-history-mission-capabilities\"><u>U.S. Space Force<\/u><\/a>'s Space Development Agency (SDA). <\/p><p>The T1TL \"will provide global communications access and deliver persistent regional encrypted connectivity in support of warfighter missions around the globe,\" SDA officials <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sda.mil\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Transport-Layer_distro-A_FINAL.pdf\" ><u>wrote in a explainer<\/u><\/a>.<\/p><p>The T1TL will eventually consist of 126 satellites, which will be built by York Space Systems, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. Sixty-three of the spacecraft have now launched to date, on three Falcon 9 launches from Vandenberg \u2014 one <a href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/space-exploration\/launches-spacecraft\/spacex-launches-1st-21-satellites-for-advanced-new-us-military-constellation\"><u>last September<\/u><\/a>, another <a href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/space-exploration\/launches-spacecraft\/spacex-second-launch-space-development-agency-tranche-1-transport-layer\"><u>last October<\/u><\/a> and today. <\/p><p>These 126 spacecraft will be part of a larger LEO network that the SDA calls the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture.<\/p><p>The PWSA is \"a proliferated constellation of hundreds of optically linked small satellites, in low-Earth orbit (LEO), delivering capability at speed to the warfighter,\" SDA officials wrote in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sda.mil\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Tranche-1-Factsheet_FINAL_06.10.2024.pdf\" ><u>Tranche 1 fact sheet<\/u><\/a>.<\/p><p>\"SDA leverages spiral development to deploy and proliferate new capability into a new generation of the PWSA every two years, called a 'tranche,' to continually increase capability used by the warfighter,\" they added.<\/p><figure class=\"van-image-figure  inline-layout\" data-bordeaux-image-check ><div class='image-full-width-wrapper'><div class='image-widthsetter' style=\"max-width:2880px;\"><p class=\"vanilla-image-block\" style=\"padding-top:56.25%;\"><img id=\"eFQVs2Q5uVPPya6ENUmC9T\" name=\"Screenshot 2026-07-16 at 1.41.27\u202fPM\" alt=\"a black and white rocket rests on the deck of a ship at sea\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/eFQVs2Q5uVPPya6ENUmC9T.jpg\" mos=\"\" align=\"middle\" fullscreen=\"\" width=\"2880\" height=\"1620\" attribution=\"\" endorsement=\"\" class=\"inline\"><\/p><\/div><\/div><figcaption itemprop=\"caption description\" class=\" inline-layout\"><span class=\"caption-text\">The first stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket rests on a drone ship after launching the Third Tranche 1 Mission for the U.S. Space Development Agency on July 16, 2026. <\/span><span class=\"credit\" itemprop=\"copyrightHolder\">(Image credit: SpaceX)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure><div  class=\"fancy-box\"><div class=\"fancy_box-title\">Previous Booster 1103 launches<\/div><div class=\"fancy_box_body\"><p class=\"fancy-box__body-text\"><a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/space-exploration\/launches-spacecraft\/spacex-spy-satellite-launch-nrol-179-nro\"><strong>NROL-179<\/strong><\/a><strong> | 2 Starlink missions<\/strong><\/p><\/div><\/div><p>Everything went according to plan today, at least during the mission's early stages. The Falcon 9's first stage came back to Earth about 8.5 minutes after liftoff for a landing in the Pacific Ocean, on the drone ship \"Of Course I Still Love You.\" According to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spacex.com\/launches\/sda-t1tl-e\" ><u>SpaceX mission description<\/u><\/a>, it was the fourth flight for this particular booster, which is designated 1103.<\/p><p>The Falcon 9's upper stage continued hauling the 21 satellites to LEO. We don't know when or exactly where they'll be deployed; the SpaceX mission description doesn't provide that information, and the company cut off its launch webcast shortly after booster landing at the request of the SDA.<\/p><p><em><strong>Editor's note: <\/strong><\/em><em>This story was updated at 4:44 p.m. ET on July 16 with news of successful launch and booster landing.<\/em><\/p>\n                                                            <\/article>\n                            \n                        ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SpaceX launched 21 more satellites for the U.S. military&#8217;s advanced new &#8220;Tranche 1 Transport Layer&#8221; constellation from California&#8217;s scenic central coast today (July 16).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":587,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2799,1263],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-launches-amp-spacecraft","category-space-exploration"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62763"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/587"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62763"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62763\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62820,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62763\/revisions\/62820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}