

SpaceX
SpaceX targets Falcon 9 reusability milestone on first dedicated rideshare launch
SpaceX’s first dedicated rideshare – a collection of small satellites manifested for launch and organized by a third party – is into the final stretches of prelaunch preparations, readying for a ride to orbit on a flight-proven Falcon 9 no earlier than (NET) November 19th.
While unconfirmed, it appears that SpaceX is working to make SSO-A’s launch the first time the same Falcon 9 booster flies three missions, an accomplishment that may look minor up close but is actually a major step forward for orbital-class reusable rockets.
Who doesn't love a CONVOY? Watch our spacecraft start its journey to the launch pad here: https://t.co/97MxmjnKfl #ssoa #smallsatexpress
— Spaceflight (@SpaceflightInc) October 22, 2018
SSO-A organizer and launch customer Spaceflight Industries announced yesterday (Oct. 22) that the collection of several dozen satellites – called a “stack” when integrated together in and on Spaceflight’s custom dispenser – arrived at Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) within the last few days, setting the stage for post-shipment health checkouts and encapsulation inside Falcon 9’s payload fairing.
“The assembled stack has now traveled by road 1,075 miles (1730 km) from Seattle. It will travel another 357 miles (575 km) to reach its targeted orbit. So we could say that the longest part of the journey is over…but the most exciting part is still to come!”
- Spaceflight’s convoy of support vehicles follow as the stack is shipped from Auburn, WA to Vandenberg, CA, a journey of ~1000 miles. (Spaceflight)
- Spaceflight’s SSO-A Upper Free Flyer visualized deploying cubesats shortly after launch on Falcon 9. (Spaceflight)
- SSO-A’s fairly intricate deployment sequence. (Spaceflight)
Arrival at the launch site is a huge milestone for any satellite or spacecraft and that is perhaps even more so the case for massive rideshare missions like SSO-A. The task of wrangling together dozens upon dozens of satellites of all different shapes and sizes – all coming from dozens of customers spread across the world – is understandably unenviable from a logistical standpoint. Despite the major hurdles and the apparent loss or slippage of a few dozen previously-planned satellites, it appears that Spaceflight Industries has made it through logistical hell and can now begin to focus on prelaunch operations after arriving at or near SpaceX’s California launch site.
If there were any stragglers with satellites that were not quite able to make it to Spaceflight’s Auburn, WA integration facilities ahead of shipment to California, there may still be a very limited time-frame for those customers to redirect their spacecraft to California and integrate with the full stack before the whole thing is closed up inside Falcon 9’s payload fairing.
- Falcon 9 B1048.2 landed at LZ-4 after its second successful launch. (SpaceX)
- Falcon 9 B1048 landed at LZ-4 after its second launch and is now being refurbished on the opposite coast. (SpaceX)
- A render of Spaceflight’s SSO-A dispensers attached to Falcon 9’s second stage.
Third time’s the charm
For Falcon 9, SSO-A is equally exciting. Likely to fly on either booster B1048 or B1046, both now with two successful launches on their records, this mission could mark the first time a Falcon 9 booster completes three orbital-class missions. If the rocket managed a successful recovery, either at SpaceX’s recently-inaugurated Landing Zone-4 (LZ-4) or well-worn drone ship Just Read The Instructions, it would pave the way for its fourth reflight and beyond. SpaceX designed Falcon 9 Block 5 to be capable of a minimum of 10 launches per booster with little to no refurbishment, potentially enabling 100+ flights each with regular maintenance.
If schedules hold, SSO-A will launch as few as five days after SpaceX’s NET November 14th launch of communications satellite Es’Hail-2 on the opposite coast.
For prompt updates, on-the-ground perspectives, and unique glimpses of SpaceX’s rocket recovery fleet check out our brand new LaunchPad and LandingZone newsletters!
Elon Musk
Elon Musk reveals when SpaceX will perform first-ever Starship catch
“Starship catch is probably flight 13 to 15, depending on how well V3 flights go,” Musk said.

Elon Musk revealed when SpaceX would perform the first-ever catch attempt of Starship, its massive rocket that will one day take life to other planets.
On Tuesday, Starship aced its tenth test flight as SpaceX was able to complete each of its mission objectives, including a splashdown of the Super Heavy Booster in the Gulf, the deployment of eight Starlink simulators, and another splashdown of the ship in the Indian Ocean.
It was the first launch that featured a payload deployment:
SpaceX Starship Flight 10 was so successful, it’s breaking the anti-Musk narrative
SpaceX was transparent that it would not attempt to catch the Super Heavy Booster, something it has done on three previous occasions: Flight 5 on October 13, 2024, Flight 7 on January 16, and Flight 8 on March 6.
This time, it was not attempting to do so. However, there are bigger plans for the future, and Musk detailed them in a recent post on X, where he discussed SpaceX’s plans to catch Starship, which would be a monumental accomplishment.
Musk said the most likely opportunities for SpaceX to catch Starship itself would be Flight 13, Flight 14, and Flight 15, but it depends on “how well the V3 flights go.”
The Starship launched with Flight 10 was a V2, which is the same size as the subsequent V3 rocket but has a smaller payload-to-orbit rating and is less powerful in terms of initial thrust and booster thrust. Musk said there is only one more V2 rocket left to launch.
Starship catch is probably flight 13 to 15, depending on how well V3 flights go
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 27, 2025
V3 will be the version flown through 2026, as V4, which will be the most capable Starship build SpaceX manufactures, is likely to be the first company ship to carry humans to space.
Musk said that SpaceX planned to “hopefully” attempt a catch of Starship in 2025. However, it appears that this will likely be pushed back to 2026 due to timing.
SpaceX will take Starship catch one step further very soon, Elon Musk confirms
SpaceX would need to launch the 11th and 12th test flights by the end of the year in order to get to Musk’s expected first catch attempt of Flight 13. It’s not unheard of, but the company will need to accelerate its launch rate as it has only had three test flights this year.
Elon Musk
SpaceX Starship Flight 10 was so successful, it’s breaking the anti-Musk narrative
That’s all the proof one could need about the undeniable success of Starship Flight 10.

Starship Flight 10 was a huge success for SpaceX. When both the Super Heavy booster and the Starship Upper Stage successfully landed on their designated splashdown zones, the space community was celebrating.
The largest and most powerful rocket in the world had successfully completed its tenth test flight. And this time around, there were no rapid unscheduled disassemblies during the mission.
As per SpaceX in a statement following Flight 10, “every major objective was met, providing critical data to inform designs of the next generation Starship and Super Heavy.” The private space enterprise also stated that Flight 10 provided valuable data by stressing the limits of Starship’s capabilities.
With all of Flight 10’s mission objectives met, one would think that it would be pretty easy to cover the story of Starship’s successful tenth test flight. But that’s where one would be wrong, because Elon Musk companies, whether it be Tesla or SpaceX or xAI, tend to attract negative slant from mainstream media outlets.
This was in full force with Starship Flight 10’s coverage. Take the BBC’s Facebook post about the fight test, which read “Elon Musk’s giant rocket, earmarked for use in a 2027 mission to the Moon, has had multiple catastrophic failures in previous launches.” CNN was more direct with its slant, writing “SpaceX’s troubled Starship prototype pulls off successful flight after months of explosive mishaps” on its headline.
While some media outlets evidently adopted a negative slant towards Starship’s Flight 10 results, several other media sources actually published surprisingly positive articles about the successful test flight. The most notable of which is arguably the New York Times, which featured a headline that read “SpaceX’s Giant Mars Rocket Completes Nearly Flawless Test Flight.” Fox News also ran with a notably positive headline that read “SpaceX succeeds at third Starship test flight attempt after multiple scrubs.”
Having covered Elon Musk-related companies for the better part of a decade now, I have learned that mainstream coverage of any of his companies tends to be sprinkled with varying degrees of negative slant. The reasons behind this may never be fully explained, but it is just the way things are. This is why, when milestones such as Starship’s Flight 10 actually happen and mainstream media coverage becomes somewhat objective, I can’t help but be amazed.
After all, it takes one heck of a company led by one heck of a leader to force objectivity on an entity that has proven subjective over the years. And that, if any, is all the proof one could need about the undeniable success of Starship Flight 10.
News
SpaceX aces Starship test flight 10 with successful payload deployment
The mission began at 6:30 p.m. local time in Starbase, Texas, when the launch of Starship initiated. After about eight minutes, stage separation was completed, and the Super Heavy Booster headed back down to Earth for a planned splashdown in the Indian Ocean:

SpaceX aced its tenth Starship test flight on Tuesday night after multiple delays pushed the mission back to this evening. Originally scheduled for Sunday night, SpaceX had two delays push the flight back to Tuesday, which ultimately provided ideal conditions for a launch attempt.
The tenth test flight of Starship had several objectives, including a successful splashdown of the booster in the Gulf of America, the deployment of eight Starlink simulation modules from the PEZ dispenser, and a splashdown of the ship in the Indian Ocean.
SpaceX successfully achieved all three of these objectives, making it one of the most successful test flights in the Starship program. There was no attempt to catch the booster this evening, as the company had been transparent about it ahead of the launch.
The mission began at 6:30 p.m. local time in Starbase, Texas, when the launch of Starship initiated. After about eight minutes, stage separation was completed, and the Super Heavy Booster headed back down to Earth for a planned splashdown in the Indian Ocean:
Super Heavy has splashed down in the Gulf pic.twitter.com/LGozUAmLt8
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 26, 2025
Starship was then the main focus of the rest of the broadcast as it completed its ascent burn and coasted through space, providing viewers with spectacular views as the mission headed toward new territory, including the deployment of Starlink simulators. This would be the first time SpaceX would attempt a payload deployment.
The deployment works like a PEZ dispenser, as the simulators were stacked on top of one another and would exit through a small slit one at a time.
This occurred roughly 20 minutes into the mission:
Open the pod bay door, HAL
Starship deploying @Starlink simulator sats pic.twitter.com/3CSOyulzcJ
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 26, 2025
An hour and six minutes into the flight, Starship reached its final destination, which was the Indian Ocean. A successful splashdown would bring closure to Starship’s tenth test flight, marking the fifth time a test flight in the program’s history did not end with vehicle loss.
It was also the first of four test flights this year that will end with Starship being recovered.
Splashdown confirmed! Congratulations to the entire SpaceX team on an exciting tenth flight test of Starship! pic.twitter.com/5sbSPBRJBP
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 27, 2025
SpaceX is expected to launch Starship again in approximately eight weeks, pending the collection of data and other key metrics from this flight.
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