BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – On Sunday, SpaceX successfully launched the “Bandwagon-1″ mission to low-Earth orbit with a Falcon 9 rocket.
The rocket lifted off at 7:16 p.m. from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center.
Bandwagon-1 is a rideshare mission, the first of its name, carrying 11 spacecraft including KOREA’s 425Sat, HawkEye 360′s Clusters 8 & 9, Tyvak International’s CENTAURI-6, iQPS’s QPS-SAR-7 TSUKUYOMI-II, Capella Space’s Capella-14 and Tata Advanced Systems Limited’s TSAT-1A, the company said in a statement.
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The first-stage booster supporting Bandwagon-1 will be making its 14th flight, SpaceX said. It was previously used in such missions as CRS-27 and nine Starlink launches.
Bandwagon-1 is SpaceX's first dedicated rideshare mission launching to a mid-inclination orbit. While our Transporter rideshare missions launch to a sun-synchronous orbit, launching to a mid-inclination orbit fills in the gaps for our customers that wish to expand their coverage… pic.twitter.com/BFwQJ9T9Oe
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 7, 2024
After stage separation, the booster landed at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Landing Zone 1. A sonic boom then rattled the region.
Eyes will continue to be on the sky Monday at the space center, but the focus will be on the first solar eclipse since 2017.
Like that event that drew 6,000 people, the KSC Visitor Complex will host more activities for the eclipse on Monday.
In a press conference on March 26, NASA administrator Bill Nelson talked about the power eclipses have to draw people together.
“They move people to feel a kind of reverence for the beauty of our universe,” Nelson said. “Their power is not only unify us on Earth, but to further science and discovery.”
All activities will be included with admission.
Special glasses will also be available while they last.
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