On October 1, SpaceX conducted three launches of Falcon family rockets from three different pads across the US coastlines. The sequence began at SLC-40 in Cape Canaveral with a Falcon 9 carrying the Crew-13 mission. The spacecraft, crewed by NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov, docked with the ISS at approximately 19:05 ET.
The mission's first stage, identified as B1101, completed its third flight and landed at LZ-40. Following this, a Falcon 9 launched from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California for the Transporter-18 mission. This rocket carried 130 payloads into orbit, including Kyrgyzstan's first satellite, a Google Suncatcher prototype, and the Otter service vehicle from Starfish Space. The booster, on its 25th flight, landed at LZ-4.
The final launch of the day occurred at night from LC-39A at the Kennedy Space Center, featuring a Falcon Heavy rocket. This mission, designated NROL-97, was conducted for the US National Reconnaissance Office and the Space Force. While the side boosters successfully separated and landed at LZ-1 and LZ-2, the central core of the Falcon Heavy was not recovered.
