The American aerospace company SpaceX has successfully launched a batch of 18 satellites, one of which is pivotal for paving the way towards creating a private space station. This news was reported by Space.com.
On Sunday, November 2, the Falcon 9 rocket took off with 18 satellites from a launch site in Florida at 08:09 Kyiv time.
The mission was named «Bandwagon-4».
Among the payload on the Falcon 9 is Haven Demo, an exploratory device for the private space station Haven-1, which the California-based company Vast Space plans to launch into low Earth orbit next year.
«Haven Demo represents the first step in our effort to build next-generation space stations, testing critical systems for Haven-1, including the propulsion system, onboard computers, and navigation software,» stated representatives from Vast Space.
The other 17 satellites will be utilized by the South Korean Defense Development Agency, Berlin-based Exolaunch, Turkish Fergani Space, Tomorrow Companies for weather forecasting, and Starcloud, which aims to develop data processing centers in space.
The first stage of the Falcon 9 successfully returned to Earth approximately eight minutes after launch, landing in a designated area at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The upper stage of the rocket continued to transport the 18 satellites into orbit, with deployment expected to take about an hour after liftoff.
The Bandwagon-4 mission marks the 140th launch of the Falcon 9 rocket in 2025.