SpaceX, the rocket company led by Elon Musk, launched 21 satellites for the U.S. Space Development Agency on Saturday, October 10, after a five-day delay. Space.com reported that a Falcon 9 lifted off at 3:39 a.m. EDT (12:39 a.m. local time) from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The first-stage booster returned to Vandenberg and landed a little over seven minutes later.
The satellites carry data across a military network. According to Space.com, this was the fourth of nine launches SpaceX will conduct to help assemble Tranche 1, which the Space Development Agency calls its initial warfighting capability tranche. Spaceflight Now (via NewsBeep) says 63 satellites were already in orbit after three earlier launches, that Northrop Grumman built these 21, and that Tranche 1 should give the network operational capability in 2027.
The delay
The launch was first planned for Monday, October 5. SpaceX aborted in the final minute of the countdown, and Space.com says the company has not disclosed why. Spaceflight Now puts the abort at 58 seconds before liftoff and cites “some off-nominal data on Stage Two.”
The landing
Space.com says the booster, number 1103, was flying for the sixth time, and counts this as the 111th Falcon 9 flight of the year. Spaceflight Now says it landed at Landing Zone 4, the 37th landing at that site and the 668th Falcon booster landing overall.
What is not confirmed
Space.com says SpaceX ended its webcast shortly after the landing, at the Space Development Agency’s request, so its report does not confirm that the satellites were deployed.
Our take: by now this looks like a routine launch for SpaceX, with a steady cadence and a booster landing. The open points are small but real. Space.com says SpaceX has not disclosed why the countdown was aborted, though Spaceflight Now cites that Stage Two data, and the reports we read do not confirm deployment. Five more launches remain in the nine-launch series.
