On November 28, a Falcon 9 rocket launched from Vandenberg’s SLC-4E base, sending the Transporter-15 mission into a sun-synchronous orbit. The mission carried 140 payloads, including cubesats, microsatellites, hosted payloads, and orbital transfer vehicles, which contained 13 of these payloads to be deployed later.
This flight marked a significant milestone for the first stage – it had been used 30 times. It has previously achieved success with NROL-87, NROL-85, SARah-1, SWOT, several previous Transporter missions, Bandwagon-2, a series of national reconnaissance missions, and eighteen Starlink launches. After separation, the booster returned to Earth, landing on the Of Course I Still Love You barge in the Pacific Ocean. The record for reusing launch vehicles belongs to B1067, which has made 31 flights.
SpaceX continues to set industry standards for reusable rocket technology, with the Falcon 9 and its variants achieving unprecedented reliability and cost efficiency, reflecting its leadership in the commercial launch industry. The latest Transporter mission underscores not only SpaceX’s mission to deploy smaller, commercial payloads but also highlights its commitment to reducing the environmental impact of space launches through technological advancements in reusable systems.
