SpaceX scrubs launch of 140 satellites atop used Falcon 9 rocket from California coast
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The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the 140 satellites of the company’s Transporter-15 mission sits on its launch pad at Vandenberg Space Station in California, November 26, 2025. | Credit: SpaceX
A massive fleet of tiny satellites is stuck on Earth for a few more days after SpaceX canceled its orbit attempt on Wednesday (November 26).
EspaceX canceled the planned launch of 140 satellites, all aboard the same Falcon 9 rocketjust over 15 minutes before their scheduled takeoff from a seaside resort in Vandenberg Space Base in California. The company did not reveal the reason for the delay. The next opportunity to launch the mission, called Transporter-15, will be Friday, November 28 at 1:19 p.m. EST (18:19 GMT).
“There are a thousand ways for a launch to go wrong and only one way for it to go right,” a SpaceX spokesperson said at a news conference. live launch commentary. “So given that, we are being overly cautious in the field, and if the team or vehicle sees something that looks slightly odd, we will stop the countdown.”
Transporter-15 is a SpaceX rideshare mission designed to carry dozens of small satellites into orbit for a variety of customers. SpaceX initially hoped to launch the mission on November 19, but found repeated delays for the flight.
The satellites aboard the Falcon 9 are an eclectic mix of commercial satellites, Earth observation spacecraft and other vehicles. Earth imaging company Planet Labs, for example, has 36 small “SuperDove” satellites alongside two of its larger Pelican Earth observation satellites. THE European Space Agencymeanwhile, has a pair of HydryoGNSS satellites on board to monitor the water cycle on Earth.
Previous Booster 1071 Missions
NROL-87 | NROL-85 | SARah-1 | WORK | Carrier-8 | Carrier-9 | Carrier-13 | NROL-146 | Moving Train-2 | NROL-153 | NROL-192 | 18 Starlink missions
Two launch providers, ExoLaunch and SEOPS, each have a collection of different spacecraft aboard Transporter-15 for various customers. Vardaa company that launches experiments capable of returning to Earth using re-entry capsules, will fly its fifth spacecraft, called W-5, for this mission. And there are dozens of other satellites representing companies around the world, including Taiwan and Italy.
The Transporter-15 Falcon 9 rocket features a first stage that has flown 29 times. If all goes well, the first stage will return to Earth after liftoff to land on SpaceX’s “Of Course I Still Love You” drone ship in the Pacific Ocean so it can be brought back to earth for possible reuse.
