SpaceX is gearing up for the launch of 30 satellites early Saturday morning (Dec. 21) as part of its Bandwagon-2 rideshare mission.
A Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to lift off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 6:34 a.m. EDT (1134 GMT; 3:34 a.m. local time). SpaceX plans to broadcast the event live on its X account, with coverage starting approximately 15 minutes before launch.
The payload for Bandwagon-2 includes satellites from various organizations, such as South Korea’s Agency for Defense Development, Arrow Science and Technology, Exolaunch, HawkEye 360, Maverick Space Systems, Sidus Space, Tomorrow Companies Inc., True Anomaly, and Think Orbital, according to a SpaceX mission overview.
This will mark the second Bandwagon mission for SpaceX, following Bandwagon-1, which launched 11 satellites in April. The company also operates another series of rideshare missions under the name “Transporter,” which has successfully completed 11 launches since its inception. The inaugural Transporter mission in January 2021 carried 143 satellites, setting a single-launch record that remains unbeaten.
If all goes as planned, the Falcon 9’s first stage will execute a vertical landing at Vandenberg approximately eight minutes after liftoff. This will be the 21st flight for this particular booster, just three launches shy of SpaceX’s current reuse record.
