A Sunday morning liftoff from Vandenberg Space Force Base signaled the end of a busy first week under a new contract for the team responsible for monitoring just-launched rockets and missiles. 

The SpaceX rocket blasted off at 9:58 a.m. from Space Launch Complex-4, with the first-stage booster landing on the droneship eight minutes later.

SpaceX later confirmed the 28 Starlink satellites deployed as planned. 

This was the third launch since the Dec. 1 kickoff of the Space Force Range Contract awarded to Amentum (via its subsidiary Jacobs Technology). 

The 10-year contract with a $4 billion ceiling covers both the Western Range at Vandenberg and the Eastern Range in Florida. Both ranges monitor launches to ensure they occur safely. 

“This award builds on decades of trusted performance supporting the nation’s space launch infrastructure,” said Steve Arnette, Amentum’s chief operating officer. “We’re leveraging that deep institutional knowledge, combined with our modern capabilities, to help the Space Force drive mission assurance, accelerate launch readiness, and realize the full potential of a multi-user spaceport future.”

Space Force representatives said the contract will transform the way operations, maintenance, sustainment, and systems engineering and integration services for missions.

The new contract started as both Eastern and Western Ranges deal with aging systems that have increased in cost to operate, maintain, and sustain, officials noted. 

Additionally, the new contract will enable commercial launch service providers to submit Task Orders and directly pay for the services required to support their commercial launches.

For the past 10 years, Range Generation Next or RGNext held what was called the Launch and Test Range Integrated Service Contract, which was awarded in late 2014 and took effect in 2015.

RG Next had submitted a bid for the new deal but lost out. 

On Oct. 1, RGNext issued layoff notices to roughly 400 employees, according to the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification filed with the state Employment Development Department. 

The layoff notices took effect Nov. 30. The new contract began the next day.

“Amentum and partners hired hundreds of incumbent personnel from the predecessor LISC contract, retaining over 95% of the existing workforce to support the new Space Force Range Contract,” said Chanel Mann, Amentum’s senior manager of media relations. “Amentum will be working closely with the Space Force to provide assured access to space for our nation and identify any potential new employment opportunities.

Amentum is only the fourth firm to operate the Western Range. Twenty-five years ago and before RGNext, InDyne captured the contract. Before that, ITT Industries operated the Western Range for 40 years.

Sunday’s was the third Falcon rocket launch of December from Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County.

The next Falcon 9 rocket launch is aiming for early Wednesday when the team will target liftoff between 12:54 and 4:54 a.m.