On Saturday morning (Dec. 21), SpaceX intends to put 30 satellites into orbit.
At 6:34 a.m. EDT (1134 GMT; 3:34 a.m. local California time) on Saturday, a Falcon 9 rocket is set to launch from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base, beginning a ridesharing mission SpaceX refers to as Bandwagon-2.
About fifteen minutes prior to launch, the business will start webcasting the action live through its X account.
In addition to “Arrow Science and Technology, Exolaunch, HawkEye 360, Maverick Space Systems, Sidus Space, Tomorrow Companies Inc., True Anomaly and Think Orbital,” SpaceX stated in a mission description that 30 satellites are launching on Bandwagon-2, including payloads for South Korea’s Agency for Defence Development.
Bandwagon-1, the first Bandwagon mission launched by SpaceX, launched 11 satellites in April of this year. Additionally, the corporation introduces additional rideshare tasks through a series it calls “Transporter.”
To date, SpaceX has launched eleven Transporter missions. The first one, was launched in January 2021, set a single-launch record by launching 143 satellites into orbit.
The first stage of the Falcon 9 will return to Earth around eight minutes after launch, landing vertically back at Vandenberg on Saturday if all goes as planned.
The SpaceX mission description explains that this will be the booster’s 21st flight. The company’s rocket-reuse record is only three seconds away.
There is no schedule for the 30 satellites’ deployment in the Bandwagon-2 mission description.
