Update to: SpaceXSI’s Bandwagon-5 and Its Starfall Reentry Capsule Slip to Tuesday
Tuesday it was. SpaceXSI launched Bandwagon-5 on a Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral at 6:04 a.m. CT on October 20, with 32 payloads aboard, including the second-ever flight of the Starfall return capsule.
What’s aboard
- Starfall: a disk about 3.1 m wide and 2,100 kg that can bring about 1,000 kg back to Earth, for microgravity research and in-space manufacturing. It’s the last payload to separate, about 2 hours 48 minutes after liftoff.
- Varda W-Series 7: another orbital “mini-factory” capsule.
- Planet’s Pelican-12 and a mix of cubesats and microsats.
Deployments run for about two hours starting 57 minutes after launch. I’ll be watching for Starfall’s reentry.
