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SpaceX has launched NASA’s DART (Double Asteroid Redirect Test) mission onboard a Falcon 9 rocket. DART is a demonstration mission to determine the effects of an intentional impact on an asteroid. DART’s collision with the asteroid moon Dimorphos is set for October 2022.

The launch of the small spacecraft from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base took place on November 23rd at 10:21 Pacific Time (6:21 UTC on November 24th).

This launch, the third flight of Falcon 9 first stage B1063, was the 26th Falcon 9 launch of 2021. It marked the start of a surge of launches in November and December, with four additional Falcon 9 launches planned before the end of the year.

B1063 previously launched the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite from Vandenberg and the Starlink L28 mission from Cape Canaveral.

DART’s launch opportunity on November 23rd was an instantaneous launch window, with the weather forecast at 90% GO, and 100% GO for the backup window 24 hours later. The launch time would have pulled one minute earlier per day if the flight had delayed. The mission’s overall launch window ran until February 15, 2022.