The First Mission Milestones Onboard SpaceX’s Transporter-18 Rideshare Launch

1 Oct 2026

News

VIA SATELLITE - SpaceX launched 130 payloads on an Oct. 1 dedicated rideshare mission, including milestone first missions for a number of its customers.

Transporter-18 is part of an attempt to launch three missions in one day. It began with the Crew-13 Falcon 9 astronaut launch for NASA from Florida at 11:10 a.m. ET. The Transporter Falcon 9 mission took off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 11:32 a.m. PT.

The third mission, a Falcon Heavy mission for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), lifted off from Florida at at 11:54 p.m. ET on Thursday.

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Note: Transporter-18 carried two power-beaming satellites for Cowboy Space, a company that recently opened a large production facility in Kent, as well as the first Otter servicing satellite for Starfish Space, a company headquartered in Tukwila.

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