SpaceX rocket blasts off from Vandenberg after multiple delays — and a missile test is next
An eclectic collection of payloads, including a satellite built in Santa Barbara plus cremated remains of people and cats, rocketed away from Vandenberg Space Force Base late Friday night.
The Falcon 9 rocket, built by Space Exploration Technologies, lifted off at 11:48 p.m. from Space Launch Complex-4 on South Base with 51 payloads on board after multiple delays.
Less than eight minutes after liftoff, the first-stage booster, the lower two-thirds of the Falcon rocket, returned to Vandenberg, landing just west of the launch site and delivering window-rattling sonic booms.
This was the 10th flight for the first-stage booster.
Dubbed Transporter-7, the mission involved the seventh dedicated rideshare payload, including CubeSats, MicroSats, hosted payloads, and orbital transfer vehicles carrying spacecraft to be deployed at a later time, according to SpaceX.
“Our goal with these missions is to provide small satellite operators competitive pricing, increased flight opportunities and flexibility,” said Jessie Anderson, a SpaceX production engineering manager and launch commentator.
“We’re flying some really cool payloads on this mission including several different types of Earth-observation missions, collecting greenhouse gas emissions data, hyperspectral imaging, student research projects and orbit-changing vehicles.
“It’s pretty incredible how even the smallest satellites can make meaningful contributions to take care of planet Earth and our efforts to visit other worlds.”
Deployment of the various payloads occurred successfully following launch, according to SpaceX.
Among customers for this mission is Santa Barbara-based Umbra, manufacturer of synthetic aperture radar satellites capable of delivering images despite clouds, smoke and total darkness with industry-leading resolution.
The firm has vowed to remove the mystery behind pricing for high-resolution images captured from space, touting clarity for its ordering process as well as products delivered to customers.
This was the sixth successful launch for Umbra payloads on SpaceX mission.
The rocket also carried IMECE, an optical remote-sensing satellite for the Turkish Space Agency and announced by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier this week.
Other satellites aboard the Transporter-7 mission have international ties including to Norway, Dubai, Kenya, Colombia, Monaco, Spain and Hungary.
Several additional spacecraft have connections to the United States, including a pair belonging to NASA’s Educational Launch of Nanosatellites or ELaNa program geared toward students.
Another payload GHGSat involves three new emissions-monitoring satellites, named Mey-Lin, Gaspard and Océane for the children of team members.
The company says methane sensors on board the satellites will provide data to industry, governments and financial services worldwide to proactively drive reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
Another unique aspect for the multi-faceted Falcon mission involved carrying a symbolic portion of cremated remains of humans and cats, approximately a gram each, as Celestis Inc. returned to the West Coast for its unique space memorials.
Prices for flights of a sample of cremains range from $2,995 for a launch to space and return to Earth or $4,995 for a launch into Earth orbit such as the Transporter-7 mission. Launches to the lunar surface or deep space would cost $12,995.
Friday night’s launch marked the seventh Falcon 9 flight of 2023 from Vandenberg and eighth mission overall from the base this year.
The year’s ninth launch, a Minuteman III missile test with a mock warhead, also is expected this month from North Base.
That test is tentatively set to take place during a six-hour window spanning from 11:47 p.m. April 19 to 5:47 a.m. April 20, according to the military.
Another Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missile test successfully blasted off in February from Vandenberg.