SpaceX Launches Transporter-3 Mission With 105 Satellites

Credit: SpaceX

On Thursday, January 12 at 10:25am ET (15:25 UTC), SpaceX launched the Transporter-3 mission with 105 Payloads atop a Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket from SLC-40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. This wasthe third SpaceX dedicated rideshare mission, which means a mission only for small satellites from multiple companies. SpaceX does these dedicated missions twice a year, in December/January and June/July. Dedicated missions are very important because normally small satellites only launch together with a larger satellite, so not many are launched. The first stage previously flew on Crew Dragon Demo-2, ANASIS-II, CRS-21, Transporter-1, and five Starlink missions. For this mission, the first stage landed on Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1), a landing pad on land. This is due to the trajectory of the payloads, with is sun-synchronous. This was the 137th Falcon 9 launch, 145th SpaceX mission, and the 2nd orbital attempt of 2022.