SpaceX just launched a satellite that could help pave the way for a private space station in the very near future.<\/p>\n
A Falcon 9<\/a> rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station<\/a> in Florida today at 1:09 a.m. EDT (0509 GMT), on a multi-satellite rideshare mission that SpaceX<\/a> calls Bandwagon-4.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Among the 18 payloads on board the Falcon 9 is Haven Demo, a pathfinder for Haven-1, the private space station<\/a> that California company Vast Space plans to launch to Earth orbit next year.<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n “The first step in our iterative approach towards building next-generation space stations, Haven Demo will test critical systems for Haven-1, including propulsion, flight computers and navigation software,” Vast wrote in a description of the satellite<\/a>.<\/p>\n Vast’s Haven-1<\/a> will launch to low Earth orbit<\/a> (LEO) atop a Falcon 9, perhaps as soon as the second quarter of 2026. If that schedule holds, Haven-1 \u2014 which can support up to four astronauts at a time \u2014 will be the first standalone private space station in human history.<\/p>\n The other 17 payloads that went up today will be operated by South Korea’s Agency for Defense Development (ADD), the Berlin-based company Exolaunch, Turkey’s Fergani Space, the weather-forecasting outfit Tomorrow Companies and Starcloud, which aims to build data centers in space.<\/p>\n The Falcon 9’s first stage came back to Earth<\/a> as planned today about eight minutes after launch, touching down at Cape Canaveral’s Landing Zone-2. It was the third flight for this particular booster, according to SpaceX.<\/p>\n The rocket’s upper stage, meanwhile, continued carrying the 18 payloads to orbit. It will deploy them over an hour-long stretch that begins about 12 minutes after liftoff with the separation of ADD’s Korea 425 satellite.<\/p>\n As its name suggests, Bandwagon-4 was the fourth mission in SpaceX’s Bandwagon series to lift off. The company also operates another rideshare program called Transporter, which has 14 launches<\/a> to its name to date.<\/p>\n