| Scheduled for (UTC) | 2024-12-21, 11:34 | |
|
| | Scheduled for (local) | 2024-12-21, 03:34 (PST) | | Launch site | SLC-4E, Vandenberg SFB, California, USA | | Booster | 1071-21 | | Landing | Landing Zone 4 | | Payload | Multiple | | Customers | South Korean DAPA and others | | Mission success criteria | Successful delivery of payloads to LEO |
Webcasts
| Stream | Link | |
|
| | Space Affairs | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0hdFic_KuA | | Spaceflight Now | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BggYOgPmJxo | | NASASpaceflight | none | | The Launch Pad | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAs5ZyGVq7s | | SpaceX | https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1870430156625752256 | | The Space Devs | |
Stats
Sourced from NextSpaceflight and r/SpaceX:
☑️ 45th launch from SLC-4E this year
☑️ 3 days, 22:15:24 turnaround for this pad
☑️ 62nd consecutive successful Falcon 9 launch (if successful)
☑️ 22nd landing on LZ-4
☑️ 389th Falcon family booster landing, 403rd Falcon recovery attempt
☑️ 128th Falcon 9 mission this year, 414th Falcon 9 mission overall
☑️ 130th SpaceX mission of 2024, 430th mission overall (excluding Starship flights)
☑️ 134th SpaceX launch this year, 446th SpaceX launch overall (including Starship flights)
Mission info
Bandwagon-2
Bandwagon-2 is a dedicated rideshare mission by SpaceX. SpaceX’s SmallSat Rideshare Program provides small satellite operators with regularly scheduled, dedicated Falcon 9 rideshare missions to mid-inclination orbits for ESPA class payloads for as low as $300,000 per mission, which includes up to 50kg of payload mass.
425 Project Flight 3
Launch of the third satellite in a contract of 5 reconnaissance satellites for the South Korean Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), with 1 satellite featuring an electro-optical infrared (EO/IR) telescope. The other 4 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites are to be launched at a later date.
They will be launched to low Earth orbit between 600 and 700 km by 2025, enabling South Korea’s military to observe the nuclear-armed neighbor’s key military facilities every two hours with 30-50 centimeters resolution imagery, according to a 2019 report produced by the Korea Institute of S&T Evaluation and Planning.
The project is led by the Korean Agency for Defense Development (ADD) and Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), with input from Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), Hanwha Systems, and Thales Alenia Space.