SpaceX launched its Starfall return capsule aboard the Bandwagon-5 rideshare mission from Florida. The flight follows a June demonstration intended to test controlled flight and survival during atmospheric return. SpaceX presents the capsule as a way to bring research and manufactured goods back from space; the new launch does not establish its return outcome.
SpaceX sent its Starfall return capsule into space for a second demonstration on 20 October. The capsule rode aboard Bandwagon-5, the company’s shared launch for small payloads, on a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, in the United States. Starfall was among 32 payloads. The launch follows the capsule’s first demonstration flight on 23 June from the same launch region.[1]
The June flight was designed to demonstrate controlled flight and survival during the descent through Earth’s atmosphere. SpaceX describes Starfall as a vehicle for accessing microgravity for scientific research and in-space manufacturing, then bringing payloads home. Space.com notes that the company has released relatively few details. The new flight is another demonstration of a return vehicle, with its return outcome still unreported at the edition’s cutoff.[1]
The mission schedule placed the start of payload deployments about 57 minutes after liftoff, with Starfall separating last, two hours and forty-eight minutes after launch. These were planned milestones at the frozen reporting time. The Falcon 9 first stage had already returned to a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean. Bandwagon is one of SpaceX’s rideshare programmes, alongside Transporter, allowing several customers’ payloads to share a launch.[1]
