Falcon 9 Flies Classified USSF-385, Its 10th Booster Flight

SpaceX launched the classified USSF-385 Space Force mission from Vandenberg, landing booster B1100 at sea on its tenth flight — the third such launch in 16 days.

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the classified U.S. Space Force mission USSF-385 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 7:00 a.m. local time on September 26, 2026. The payload, its destination in low Earth orbit, and its activities were not disclosed, and SpaceX cut its webcast shortly after booster touchdown, as is customary on national security flights.

USSF-385 was SpaceX's third classified Space Force launch from Vandenberg in just 16 days, following USSF-153 on September 10 and USSF-259 on September 16. That cadence underscores how routinely Falcon 9 now delivers national-security assets — communications, intelligence, missile warning and navigation systems — to orbit, and how central SpaceX has become to U.S. space defense planning amid competition with China and Russia. (Space, WXLV)

The first stage, designated B1100, came back to Earth about 8.5 minutes after liftoff and landed on the Pacific drone ship "Of Course I Still Love You," completing its tenth launch and landing. The recovery was the most visible technical result of an otherwise secretive mission. (Space, WXLV, TECHi)

Spaceflight Now reported that the mission is believed to be part of a series deploying government-use Starshield satellites, though the Space Force has not confirmed that USSF-385 carried Starshield payloads. TECHi cautioned that claims about a Starshield batch or an exact satellite count are open-source assessments, not statements from SpaceX or the government, and that the only defensible description is a classified Space Force payload headed to low Earth orbit. (WXLV, TECHi)

Per the launch data compiled by TECHi, the launch targeted roughly 14:00 UTC from Space Launch Complex 4 East after the clock shifted within a broader three-hour window, with booster B1100 assigned to a droneship landing. Falcon 9 has now flown 108 times in 2026, with about 75% of those missions dedicated to building the Starlink constellation of more than 11,000 satellites in low Earth orbit. A booster touchdown proves only the first stage's return — payload deployment confirmation on a classified flight may be limited to a brief mission-success statement. (Space, TECHi)

Attention now shifts to Starship's third launch of 2026, scheduled for Monday, September 28, during a 75-minute window opening at 8:15 a.m. EDT — an attempt to reach orbit for the first time, something the megarocket has never done. SpaceX has also flown two Falcon Heavy and two Starship missions so far this year. Meanwhile, classified cadence from both coasts shows no sign of slowing, with Vandenberg's SLC-4E pad serving both Starlink and national-security flights. (Space, New York Post)