The American company SpaceX has successfully launched a batch of 18 satellites, including one that could pave the way for the creation of a private space station in the near future. According to Space.com,
the Falcon 9 rocket launched from a Florida spaceport on November 2 at 08:09 Kyiv time.
The mission was named «Bandwagon-4».
Among the payloads on the Falcon 9 is Haven Demo - a test vehicle 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 is the first step in our approach to building next-generation space stations, testing critical systems for Haven-1 including propulsion, onboard computers, and navigation software», stated Vast Space.
The other 17 satellites will be utilized by the South Korean Defense Development Agency, Berlin-based Exolaunch, Turkish Fergani Space, weather forecasting company Tomorrow Companies, and Starcloud, which intends to create data processing centers in space.
The first stage of the Falcon 9 successfully returned to Earth about 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 last about an hour post-launch.
The launch of mission Bandwagon-4 marked the 140th flight of the Falcon 9 rocket in 2025.