SPHEREx & PUNCH

Mission

SPHEREx & PUNCH on Falcon 9 Block 5. Wed 12 Mar 2025, 03:10:12 UTC. Reported outcome: Success. Launch site: Space Launch Complex 4E. Source: Launch Library 2.

SPHEREx is a planned two-year astrophysics mission to survey the sky in the near-infrared light, which, though not visible to the human eye, serves as a powerful tool for answering cosmic questions involving the birth of the universe, and the subsequent development of galaxies. It also will search for water and organic molecules – essentials for life as we know it – in regions where stars are born from gas and dust, known as stellar nurseries, as well as disks around stars where new planets could be forming. Astronomers will use the mission to gather data on more than 300 million galaxies, as well as more than 100 million stars in our own Milky Way galaxy. NASA’s Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) mission will share a ride to space with SPHEREx. It consists of four suitcase-sized satellites, which will focus on the Sun’s outer atmosphere (the corona) and how it generates the solar wind. The spacecraft also will track coronal mass ejections – large eruptions of solar material that can drive large space weather events near Earth – to better understand their evolution and develop new techniques for predicting such eruptions.

Mission type

Astrophysics

Orbit

Sun-Synchronous Orbit

Rocket file imagery

Launch timeline

Times are relative to liftoff.

1. T-38 minWed 12 Mar, 03:32 CET

   GO for Prop Load

   Launch director verifies go for propellant load

2. T-35 minWed 12 Mar, 03:35 CET

   Stage 1 LOX Load

   Start of liquid oxygen loading in the first stage

3. T-35 minWed 12 Mar, 03:35 CET

   Prop Load

   Start of propelland loading

4. T-16 minWed 12 Mar, 03:54 CET

   Stage 2 LOX Load

   Start of liquid oxygen loading in the second stage

5. T-7 minWed 12 Mar, 04:03 CET

   Engine Chill

   Start of engine chilling

6. T-1 minWed 12 Mar, 04:09 CET

   Tank Press

   Fuel tanks are pressurized to flight levels

7. T-1 minWed 12 Mar, 04:09 CET

   Startup

   The onboard computer takes control over the countdown and runs last checks

8. T-45 sWed 12 Mar, 04:09 CET

   GO for Launch

   Launch director verifies go for launch

9. T-3 sWed 12 Mar, 04:10 CET

   Ignition

   Start of the engine ignition sequence

10. T-0Wed 12 Mar, 04:10 CET

    Liftoff

    First upwards movement of the rocket

11. T+1 min 8 sWed 12 Mar, 04:11 CET

    Max-Q

    Maximum dynamic pressure

12. T+2 min 16 sWed 12 Mar, 04:12 CET

    MECO

    Cut-off of the main engine

13. T+2 min 20 sWed 12 Mar, 04:12 CET

    Stage 2 Separation

    Separation of the second stage from the first

14. T+2 min 28 sWed 12 Mar, 04:12 CET

    SES-1

    First start of the second engine

15. T+2 min 33 sWed 12 Mar, 04:12 CET

    Booster Boostback Burn Startup

    Start of the booster boostback burn

16. T+3 minWed 12 Mar, 04:13 CET

    Fairing Separation

    Separation of the payload fairing

17. T+3 min 28 sWed 12 Mar, 04:13 CET

    Booster Boostback Burn Shutdown

    End of the booster boostback burn

18. T+6 min 13 sWed 12 Mar, 04:16 CET

    Entry Burn Startup

    Start of the atmospheric entry burn

19. T+6 min 32 sWed 12 Mar, 04:16 CET

    Entry Burn Shutdown

    End of the atmospheric entry burn

20. T+7 min 27 sWed 12 Mar, 04:17 CET

    Stage 1 Landing Burn

    Start of the first stage landing burn

21. T+7 min 54 sWed 12 Mar, 04:18 CET

    Stage 1 Landing

    Landing of the first stage

22. T+8 min 16 sWed 12 Mar, 04:18 CET

    SECO-1

    First cut-off of the second engine

23. T+39 min 28 sWed 12 Mar, 04:49 CET

    SES-2

    Second start of the second engine

24. T+40 min 10 sWed 12 Mar, 04:50 CET

    SECO-2

    Second cut-off of the second engine

25. T+41 min 56 sWed 12 Mar, 04:52 CET

    Payload Separation

    Final deployment of the payload from the rocket

26. T+52 min 16 sWed 12 Mar, 05:02 CET

    Payload Separation

    Final deployment of the payload from the rocket

27. T+53 min 7 sWed 12 Mar, 05:03 CET

    Payload Separation

    Final deployment of the payload from the rocket

Slip history

Changes recorded by Space Right Now

No changes since we started tracking on Sat 10 Oct 2026, 11:14 UTC.

Launch pad

Space Launch Complex 4E

Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA (US)

Coordinates: 34.632, -120.611