SpaceX Successfully Launches 140 Payloads on Transporter-15 Mission

SpaceX successfully launched 140 payloads on its Transporter-15 rideshare mission aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base on November 28 at 10:44 a.m. PST. The launch followed a scrub two days prior due to a ground systems issue during the liquid oxygen loading phase of the rocket's upper stage.

This mission marked the 19th flight of SpaceX's Smallsat Rideshare program. The Falcon 9 booster, designated B1071, is one of SpaceX's most flown rockets, completing its 30th flight during this mission.

B1071 has previously been utilized for five missions for the National Reconnaissance Office, four rideshare flights, and NASA's Surface Water and Ocean Topography mission. Approximately 8.5 minutes post-launch, the booster executed a successful autonomous landing on the drone ship, Of Course I Still Love You, marking SpaceX's 165th landing on that vessel and the 540th overall booster landing.

Payload deployment commenced with the Toro2 spacecraft a little over 54 minutes after liftoff, concluding with NASA's Realizing Rapid, Reduced-cost high-Risk Research CubeSat nearly two hours later. Among the payloads, Seops Space deployed 11 spacecraft utilizing various deployment mechanisms, including four from Alba Orbital and three NASA-backed CubeSats.

Exolaunch managed the deployment of 59 customer satellites, including T.MicroSat-1 from Tron Future Tech and SPiN-2, backed by the European Space Agency. The mission's cake topper was the Formosat-8 satellite from the Taiwan Space Agency, part of a planned eight-satellite constellation aimed for completion by 2031.

The Transporter-15 mission illustrates SpaceX's pivotal role in the commercial space sector, providing a cost-effective launch solution for a diverse range of payload providers.