SpaceX is preparing for the Bandwagon-5 rideshare mission, scheduled to launch on Oct. 19 from SLC-40 in Florida. The Falcon 9 rocket will carry 32 payloads into low-Earth orbit, following a trajectory to the southeast. The first-stage booster, B1085, will attempt a recovery by the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean.
The mission features the second Starfall capsule, a 2,100 kg reentry vehicle designed for cargo transport. Measuring 3.1 meters in diameter, the capsule can carry up to 1,000 kg of payload and utilizes cold-gas nitrogen thrusters for orientation. SpaceX plans to eventually transition these launches to the Starship vehicle.
Exolaunch is managing 22 of the mission's satellites, including the LEO Express 4 orbital transfer vehicle from Impulse Space and four Pulsar satellites from Xona Space Systems. The latter are part of a planned 250-satellite constellation intended to provide a commercial alternative to GPS with significantly stronger signals.
The manifest also includes multiple synthetic aperture radar satellites from ICEYE, Capella Space, and Umbra Space, alongside the Pelican-12 imager from Planet Labs. Additionally, Varda Space Industries is launching its Winnebago 7 capsule, which carries the PROTAC cancer medicine to test crystallization processes in microgravity.
