SpaceX lifted off Bandwagon-3 rideshare mission to orbit

On Monday, April 21, 2025, SpaceX launched a new Falcon 9 rocket with Bandwagon-3 mission from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

The rocket maker took the first launch window to liftoff this space vehicle to orbit carrying important payload including South Korea’s 425 Project SAR Sat-3 for radar reconnaissance, VAST’s Haven-Demo to test space station components, Tomorrow.io’s weather satellites and Atmos Space Cargo’s PHOENIX-1 re-entry capsule with an inflatable heat shield.

Bandwagon missions are a class of rideshare launches from SpaceX using Falcon 9 rocket. This program is designed to provide satellite deployment into mid-inclination low Earth orbit at an altitude between 550 to 605km in low Earth orbit.

SpaceX Falcon 9 lifting off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida (Source – SpaceX)

These missions enable customers with access to orbits that differ from the more common Sun-synchronous orbits targeted by SpaceX’s Transporter missions.

The booster participating in this mission completed its third flight and previous supported 03b mPOWER-E and Crew-10. After stage separation, the booster returned to Earth and landed on Landing Zone 2 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

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