SpaceX launches European reentry capsule on 'Bandwagon-3' rideshare mission

SpaceX just sent a pioneering European capsule to the final frontier.

A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida today (April 21) at 8:48 p.m. EDT (0048 GMT on April 22), on a rideshare mission that SpaceX calls Bandwagon-3.

Among the payloads riding the Falcon 9 is Phoenix 1, a reentry capsule built by German company Atmos Space Cargo. If all goes to plan, Phoenix 1 will come back to Earth soon, splashing down in the Atlantic about 1,200 miles (2,000 kilometers) off the coast of Brazil after a single circuit of our planet. It's the first reentry mission ever conducted by a European company, according to Atmos.

The goal is to test the Phoenix system's inflatable heat shield and other core technology, showing the craft can safely bring valuable cargo from space to Earth — something Atmos plans to do for a variety of customers in the near future.

"Our mission is to revolutionize space logistics, enabling groundbreaking advancements in microgravity research, in-orbit manufacturing, defense applications and life sciences," the company's website reads.

Bandwagon-3 is a rideshare mission, so Phoenix 1 wasn't alone on the Falcon 9. Also going up today were 425Sat-3, which will be operated by South Korea's Agency for Defense Development, and Tomorrow-S7, a satellite for the weather-forecasting outfit Tomorrow Companies Inc.

The Bandwagon series, whose first two missions launched in April 2024 and December 2024, isn't SpaceX's only rideshare line.

Elon Musk's company also operates a program called Transporter, which has 13 missions under its belt to date. The first Transporter flight sent 143 satellites to orbit in January 2021, a single-launch record that still stands.