SpaceX Delays Transporter-2 Rideshare Mission on Falcon 9 Rocket Launch From Cape Canaveral

SpaceX said on Thursday that its next Falcon 9 launch carrying Transporter-2 has been delayed. They cited the need for extra time to prepare the rocket and its payloads at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

"Team is taking additional time for pre-launch checkouts ahead of the Transporter-2 mission," the company said in a tweet. "[We] will announce [a] new target launch date once confirmed," they added.

SpaceX had a backup plan on Saturday. The mission was supposed to launch at 2:56 p.m. on Friday. But the following window will be determined by the severity of the checkouts and the amount of time required to troubleshoot potential faults.

Due to the possibility of summertime storms, Click Orlando said Falcon 9 would have faced 60% "go" conditions at Launch Complex 40 if it had launched on time. Saturday would have gotten a modest boost to 70% "go."

Transporter-2's Mission

Florida Today said SpaceX's Transporter-2 mission is the company's second dedicated rideshare mission. Customers can fly dozens of smaller payloads in one Falcon 9 fairing, sharing launch costs between them, thanks to the Transporter series of services. In January, a record-breaking 143 spacecraft were launched into low-Earth orbit.

The flightpath is also unique: after passing the lightning towers, Falcon 9 will pivot to the south, hugging Florida's east coast as it reaches a near-polar trajectory.

The rocket's 162-foot first stage booster will return to the Cape's Landing Zone 1 after liftoff, delivering startling — but mainly harmless — sonic booms along the way.

How Falcon 9 Could Help Bring Transporter-2

Space.com said the first stage of the Falcon 9 used in this mission is a SpaceX veteran known as B1060. B1060 has carried five different Starlink internet satellite payloads, an updated GPS satellite for the US Space Force, and a communications satellite for Turkey on its eighth mission.

As part of the company's second dedicated rideshare mission, the Falcon 9 will ferry dozens of satellites into space. Transporter-1, SpaceX's first rideshare mission, launched in January and carried 143 tiny satellites, setting a new record for a single rocket.

SpaceX launched the slew of small satellites into space alongside ten of its own Starlink internet satellites, acting as a cosmic carpool. The mission placed the Starlink satellites in a unique polar orbit, a first for the company's broadband fleet, which will allow customers in Alaska and other northern locations get access.

The number of satellites stowed into Transporter-2's payload fairing will not set any records, as the mission is expected to carry roughly 88 spacecraft into a polar orbit. Small satellites, including payloads for the US military and radar and optical Earth observation satellites for Satellogic and ICEYE, two commercial remote sensing businesses based in Argentina and Finland, are tucked inside the rocket's nose cone. A large number of CubeSats are also on board.

The first stage booster will also depart from the usual drone ship landing and land on Landing Zone 1 here at the Cape, making it the year's first land landing.

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