SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launched 30 satellites on Saturday for the second dedicated rideshare mission to mid-inclination orbit.
The Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 3:34 a.m. local time on the Bandwagon-2 mission, according to Space News. The Falcon 9 first stage landed back at the launch site eight minutes and 15 seconds after liftoff, just as the second stage finished its burn.
The largest of the 30 payloads on the Bandwagon-2 mission was the third “425 Project” reconnaissance satellite for the South Korean military, the outlet reported. The first satellite of its kind was launched on a Falcon 9 a year ago and the second was on a Bandwagon-1 mission in April.
The other customers on the launch included a HawkEye 360, which deployed three satellites called Cluster 11 for radio-frequency intelligence. The company said the …