A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched the Bandwagon-3 rideshare mission Monday night from Florida. Liftoff occurred at 8:48 p.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
This launch marked the 300th orbital flight from pad SLC-40. It was also the third launch for SpaceX in less than 48 hours.
The mission used Falcon 9 first stage booster B1090. This booster’s third flight followed the O3b mPOWER-E mission and Crew-10. The booster landed successfully at Landing Zone 2 at Cape Canaveral after stage separation.
Bandwagon-3 carried multiple payloads to a mid-inclination orbit. These included the fourth satellite for South Korea's Korea 425 Project. This satellite will serve the South Korean military.
The Korea Aerospace Industries project involves developing a five-satellite constellation. The satellites use advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar technology.
Also on board was the Tomorrow-S7 satellite for Tomorrow.io. This satellite is the ninth in the company's constellation. It observes all-weather temperature and humidity profiles.
A unique passenger was Atmos Space Cargo’s Phoenix 1 capsule. The German company launched this mission as the first private European attempt at space re-entry. Atmos received government permission for the re-entry flight.
The Phoenix 1 mission will test an inflatable heat shield. It will gather data during re-entry. The capsule is expected to splashdown off the coast of Brazil.
This flight aims to prove technology for returning cargo from space. Atmos plans a follow-up mission, Phoenix 2, in the future.
