JUNE 12, 2026 – Harking as far back as 1958, Vandenberg SFB’s history has been entwined with NASA. Hand-in-hand, the two organizations have played a critical role in executing national space launches from the West Coast, enabling groundbreaking scientific research and pioneering the exploration of outer space.
NASA advances scientific exploration by launching critical payloads from Vandenberg —ranging from specialized oceanic measurement instruments to advanced deep-space telescopes—but a successful mission begins long before a satellite reaches orbit. Throughout the launch lifecycle, the U.S. Space Force and NASA maintain a continuous partnership, collaborating to execute safe, agile range operations and guarantee overall mission assurance.
“It takes everybody on this base to execute a launch campaign,” said Daye Hoffman, NASA Launch Service Program’s organizational director, who serves as the agency’s representative at Vandenberg SFB.
In his role, Hoffman assures overall mission success by leading, managing, and directing LSP activities. These responsibilities include planning, asset protection, facility systems, and support for launch operations and payload integration.
The journey to scientific discovery at Vandenberg begins with payload processing. Before a rocket ever leaves the pad, its payload must be thoroughly prepared for the harsh environment of space. To ensure mission success, Vandenberg and NASA work in lockstep to execute a rigorous series of checks and validations.
A specialized team stands by to receive the payload at Vandenberg’s high-tech facilities. Once the payload arrives, “all the instruments are tested out for encapsulation,” Hoffman said. The commercial launch vehicle is then integrated and encapsulated with the payload before transport to the launch pad.
“On a search for life in the universe, we don’t want any biology from Earth to contaminate the satellite,” said Hoffman. “We need to be able to process very cleanly to make sure when it goes off and does its mission, we don’t inadvertently detect Earth-based contamination during the mission.”
Once processing is complete, the U.S. Space Force and NASA work together to accomplish launch scheduling and execute range operations. At Vandenberg, these operations are supported heavily by the 2nd Range Operations Squadron (2 ROPS).
2 ROPS executes spaceport operations in support of launch and test missions for the U.S. at the Vandenberg Spaceport and Test Range. Specifically, they provide mission integration, range operations, scheduling, and area management to a wide array of different Vandenberg missions.
“We’re working in concert together to make sure that our operations independently are not affecting each other,” said Hoffman. “We work closely with 2 ROPS to manage our scheduling. We call in the specific time windows we need, and they coordinate to ensure we are cleared for those launch activities.”
One of NASA’s recent missions supported by Space Launch Delta 30 personnel is SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer), a space observatory designed to map large areas of the sky by utilizing near-infrared sensing technology.
Dr. Jamie Bock, professor of physics at the California Institute of Technology, was involved in presenting the mission’s scientific objectives.
“More than 11 months after launch, our process of discovery is just beginning,” said Dr. Jamie Bock, Principal Investigator for the mission from California Institute of Technology and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “We have already put out some early results on the distribution of water in the form of ice, and observations of an interstellar object passing through our solar system called 3I-ATLAS, only the third one discovered to date.”
As of March 2026, SPHEREx continues to map hundreds of millions of galaxies in 3D to study the birth of the universe. For NASA, the information gathered by SPHEREx is being used to study intriguing cosmic history while also helping to search for potential water sources on distant planets.
“In almost all of our planetary missions, NASA is searching for signs of life beyond our own planet,” Hoffman noted.
In addition to deep space exploration, NASA drives the development of advanced scientific spacecraft that provides critical data on environmental health, monitoring conditions not only at Vandenberg, but across the globe.
“We just launched Sentinel-6B in collaboration with the European Space Agency that’s looking at ocean and water,” said Hoffman. “We’ve spent a lot of time looking at polar ice caps and salinity content in the water. It’s like we’re seeing the heartbeat of Earth.”
Vandenberg’s relationship with NASA has impacted over 40 missions since the genesis of the Launch Service Program in 1998. However, the visibility of this relationship has not been as prominent in recent years, and many personnel may not realize the base still hosts NASA as a tenant. NASA has had a presence at Vandenberg dating back to the world’s first polar earth-orbiting satellite, Discoverer 1, which launched from Space Launch Complex-1 West in 1959.
“What I was hearing over and over was a lot of personnel not knowing NASA even existed on this base,” said Hoffman. “Maybe they remember the shuttle era, but they didn’t know that we were still here. The Vandenberg relationship between the NASA Launch Service Program and SLD 30 is strong. It was really SLD 30 reaching out, wanting to take care of their mission partners.”
NASA’s mission is woven into the fabric of Vandenberg’s history, and Space Launch Delta 30 leadership has integrated the vital mission partner into its military heritage and traditions.
“After every civil mission, we are invited to participate in a patching ceremony, which was typically a military-only effort,” said Hoffman. “We’ve been able to show that off to a lot of people in NASA.”
In addition to these ceremonial milestones, this joint legacy is now permanently preserved on the installation.
“SLD 30 Leadership were a big part of getting our heritage captured in the heritage room at the Pacific Coast Center,” said Hoffman. “And now you’ll see a big plaque that was put together, showcasing all of the civil launches we’ve had since ‘98 at Vandenberg.”
The plaque stands as a physical testament to a partnership built on nearly seven decades of shared history.
“We are extremely thankful for the relationship we have with Vandenberg,” Hoffman said.
Story by Airman 1st Class Ian Hawkes
Space Launch Delta 30