Liftoff of NASA’s Newest Planet-Observing Satellite

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying NASA’s Pandora small satellite lifted off at 5:44 a.m. PST Sunday, Jan. 11, from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base located on California’s central coast.

In addition to Pandora, the rocket carried dozens of satellites, including two CubeSats sponsored by NASA, SPARCS (Star-Planet Activity Research CubeSat) and BlackCAT (Black Hole Coded Aperture Telescope).

January 11, 2026