NASA’s CADRE rovers to operate autonomously across lunar surface
NASA Jet Propultion Laboratory engineers are set to pack three suitcase sized rovers for technology demonstration on the moon. NASA footage
The second sonic boom of the day rattled the Space Coast after dark on April 21 — a Falcon 9 booster had just returned to the Cape Canaveral Landing Zone after hoisting aloft a rideshare mission known as Bandwagon-3.
It was the second space delivery mission of the day from Florida. Earlier in the morning, another Falcon 9 rocket launched the CRS-32 resupply mission from Kennedy Space Center, sending a Cargo Dragon on its way to the International Space Station.
The Bandwagon rideshare missions allow private and government companies to launch small payloads — such as small satellites — without purchasing a whole rocket launch. This was SpaceX’s third rideshare mission. The first Bandwagon mission launched from Kennedy Space Center back in April of last year. Meanwhile, Bandwagon-2 launched in December from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. To date, SpaceX has launched 1,130 small satellites for 130 customers with its rideshare program.
According to SpaceX, onboard was Korea’s ADD 425Sat-3, Tomorrow Companies Inc.’s Tomorrow-S7, and Atmos Space Cargo’s PHOENIX re-entry capsule.
Tomorrow Companies Inc. utilizes satellite technology, advanced AI, and data to “transform how the world builds resilience to weather-related threats.” Tomorrow Companies Inc. plans an eventual constellation of its satellites.
European space company, Atmos Space, is creating a capsule which the company hopes will affordably and safely return life science cargo from space. This mission is the first of the company’s PHOENIX capsule, known as the PHOENIX 1 protoflight. According to the company, PHOENIX will use an inflatable, atmospheric decelerator for reentry — something no other company has done before.
Eight-and-a-half minutes after liftoff, the first-stage landed at Cape Canaveral Landing Zone 2, creating a sonic boom. The first-stage was seeing only its third flight, having previously launched SES’s O3b mPOWER-E and NASA’s Crew-10.
Next SpaceX rocket launch from Cape Canaveral
The next SpaceX launch is set to occur no earlier than 9:32 p.m. on April 24 from Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 40. The mission, titled Starlink 6-74, is the next batch of SpaceX Starlink internet satellites.
A new launch date is also set for the Amazon Kuiper mission. United Launch Alliance announced the launch of the Amazon Kuiper satellites atop the Atlas V rocket will take place no earlier than April 28 during a two-hour window which opens at 7 p.m.. Liftoff will be from Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 41.
Brooke Edwards is a Space Reporter for Florida Today. Contact her at bedwards@floridatoday.com or on X: @brookeofstars.
