After arriving at Vandenberg Space Force Base weeks ago, a next-generation weather satellite for the U.S. military will begin the final leg of its voyage into space Thursday morning aboard a SpaceX rocket. 

The Falcon rocket, the 13th of 2024 from Vandenberg, will carry the U.S. Space Force (USSF)-62 Weather System Follow-on – Microwave (WSF-M) craft. 

On Wednesday afternoon, Vandenberg officials said the launch would aim for 7:24 a.m. Thursday. However, SpaceX said the 10-minute launch window would open at 7:25 a.m.

It’s not clear if they have other opportunities, but liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex-4 on the South Base reportedly won’t occur after 8 a.m. according to notices for boaters and pilots. 

Rocket launches can be delayed because of unfavorable weather or technical troubles with the booster, payload or ground support equipment.

The company confirmed the first-stage booster will land at Vandenberg.

A return to Vandenberg, a site just west of the launch pad, would generate sonic booms for people in Santa Barbara, Ventura and San Luis Obispo counties.

The sonic booms signal the first-stage booster’s return as the vehicle breaks the sound barrier en route back to Vandenberg and occur seven to eight minutes after liftoff.

Sonic booms stem from the shock waves created by an aircraft or launch vehicle traveling faster than the speed of sound. The booms have been likened to an explosion or a clap of thunder, but sound at various locations can depend on weather conditions and other factors.

The booming sounds are in addition to the rumble that takes place when the rocket lifts off. 

The WSF-M satellite is the first of two spacecraft ushering in a new era of space-based monitoring for decades under a legacy system dubbed the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program.

The WSF-M satellite has been designed to address three high-priority gaps — ocean surface vector winds, tropical cyclone intensity, and energetic charged particles in low Earth orbit — identified by the Department of Defense.

“Beyond these primary capabilities, our instruments also provide vital data on sea ice characterization, soil moisture and snow depth,” said David Betz, WSF-M program manager at Space Systems Command.

Officials announced in early February that the satellite had been shipped from its Ball Aerospace manufacturing plant in Colorado to the Central Coast. 

“This delivery represents a major milestone for the WSF-M program and is a critical step towards putting the first WSF-M satellite on-orbit for the warfighter,” said Col. Daniel Visosky, senior materiel leader, SSC’s Space Sensing Environmental and Tactical Surveillance Program. 

Weeks after the satellite’s shipment, Ball Corp. announced the company’s aerospace division had been sold for approximately $5.6 billion. 

BAE Systems Inc. acquired Ball Aerospace and formed a new business division known as Space & Mission Systems.