A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket remains on track for Sunday morning as the next planned liftoff from Vandenberg Space Force Base after a one-day delay for the Firefly Aerospace Alpha mission. 

Firefly officials announced their return-to-flight for the Alpha rocket’s Stairway to Seven mission had slipped to Sunday with departure planned between 4:50 p.m. and 6:50 p.m. from Space Launch Complex-2.

The team initially aimed for a Saturday liftoff. 

“As we continue to monitor upper-level winds, Firefly is now targeting to launch Alpha Flight 7 no earlier than Sunday, March 1. Fairing transport and mating is underway,” Firefly officials posted on social media Saturday.

Firefly has said the test flight’s purpose is to achieve nominal first- and second-stage performance. 

The firm is also testing several systems for the Alpha rocket’s Block II configuration, featuring updates to enhance reliability.

Firefly’s sixth Alpha launch in April from Vandenberg failed to complete the delivery of satellites on board the rocket, leading to a number of changes.

A live webcast of the mission will begin 20 minutes before liftoff and can be found on Firefly’s YouTube page.

The Falcon launch with 25 Starlink satellites will target departure between midnight and 4 a.m. Sunday from Space Launch Complex-4 on South Base.

However, liftoff reportedly was targeting 1:55 a.m. Sunday, as of Saturday afternoon. That time could change as the team works to complete various chores ahead of liftoff. 

This will be the 20th flight for the first-stage booster with the landing planned for the Of Course I Still Love You droneship positioned in the Pacific Ocean.

A live webcast of the SpaceX mission is scheduled to begin about five minutes before liftoff at spacex.com/launches and on X @SpaceX.

This weekend’s missions mark a busy few days for Vandenberg.

In addition to the Falcon and Alpha launches, an unarmed Minuteman III missile test for the Air Force is planned between 11:01 p.m. Tuesday and 5:01 a.m. Wednesday to collect data on the system’s accuracy and reliability. They typically aim to launch at the beginning of the six-hour window.

So far in 2026, Vandenberg has seen 12 launches, all involving SpaceX rockets.