A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched the Bandwagon-3. rideshare mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on April 21, 2025 at 8:48 p.m. EDT (0048 GMT on April 22)
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00:00T-minus 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, ignition, engines full power and liftoff. Go Falcon, go bandwagon 3.
00:19Stage 1 propulsion is nominal.
00:23Vehicle is pitching downrange.
00:30Now at the T plus 32 second moment, Falcon 9 has lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
00:53We are currently throttling down to prepare for max Q, the point of maximum aerodynamic stresses.
00:58Power and telemetry nominal.
01:00On the vehicle, good call out there for power and telem nominal.
01:04You can monitor the vehicle's telemetry in the lower left-hand corner of your screen.
01:10Vehicle is supersonic.
01:19Max Q.
01:20And there we heard that call out for max Q.
01:30Now coming up shortly, we're going to have several events happening in quick succession.
01:34First is MECO or main...
01:36And bag chill.
01:37Good call out there.
01:38First will be MECO or main engine cutoff, where all nine Merlin engines will shut down in preparation for stage separation, which is where the first stage separates from the second stage.
01:47Following this, the Falcon 9 first stage will then perform a flip maneuver concurrently with the MVAC engine on the second stage starting up.
01:53Then we'll see the start of the boost back burn on the Falcon 9 first stage, followed by fairing separation.
01:58Keep an eye out for all of these events happening in about 30 seconds from now.
02:28Main engine cutoff.
02:31Main engine cutoff.
02:34Stage separation confirmed.
02:41M-VAC ignition.
02:44Stage one boost back start up.
02:45Fairing separation confirmed.
02:59And there we heard those events that happened back to back, which again were main engine cutoff, stage separation, stage one flip, second engine start one, the start of the boost back burn on the first stage, and fairing separation.
03:15Now we are currently awaiting the conclusion of the boost back burn, which will properly orient the first stage for re-entry into the atmosphere.
03:23And the second stage is firing, which you can monitor in the lower right-hand corner of your screen.
03:29Stage one boost back shutdown.
03:30There's that confirmation of first stage boost back shutdown.
03:34So the next milestone coming up is entry burn on our first stage, scheduled to occur around the T plus six minute and 30 second mark.
03:41Now that boost back burn is complete, Falcon 9 will perform two more burns in order to land.
03:48The first of the two burns is entry burn to slow itself down before hitting the denser parts of the Earth's atmosphere.
03:54You can think of this as similar to pumping the brakes on your car.
03:59And without this burn, we'd only be using the atmospheric drag alone to slow down Falcon 9, which adds extra stresses onto the rocket.
04:07A single Merlin 1D engine will relight for this particular entry burn.
04:11Following the entry burn, the booster will go through its final burn, the landing burn, which should slow the vehicle down even more for a successful land landing.
04:27Now as you can make out on the screen there, Falcon 9 is equipped with four hypersonic grid fins, which are positioned near the top of the first stage, and those help steer the first stage as it returns back to Earth.
04:36You may also notice the white puffs coming off of Falcon 9, and that comes from cold nitrogen gas, which helps with attitude control.
04:48These help to make small adjustments as Falcon 9 heads back to Earth.
04:52Now when Falcon 9 fires up the center M1D engine for re-entry, the vehicle will be flying through Merlin's exhaust gases, also known as the rocket's plume, which deposits a layer of soot on the vehicle's surface.
05:07And you'll see these marks across the flight-proven Falcon 9 first stage fleet.
05:22Now the M1D engines on the first stage and the MVAC engine on Falcon 9's second stage are each optimized to perform in their unique operating environments.
05:33An M1D engine generates approximately 190,000 pounds of thrust compared to the MVAC engine, which can generate a little bit over 220,000 pounds.
05:44The MVAC nozzle extension, which you've seen in the views this evening, is also significantly taller with a larger diameter compared to the M1D engine for optimal performance in a vacuum environment.
05:55Now coming up in about 30 seconds from now, we should be hearing that call-out for the Falcon 9 first stage entry burn.
06:04As a reminder, this booster will be performing this burn for its third time this evening.
06:12Stage 2 FTS is saved.
06:15And good call-out there. This booster previously supported the O3B Empower E mission and the NASA Crew-10 mission.
06:25And there's confirmation of that stage 1 entry burn startup. This burn will last about 20 seconds.
06:55Stage 1 entry burn shutdown.
07:01And that concludes our entry burn. So the first stage has one more burn left to prep for landing.
07:07As mentioned earlier, we will be attempting to recover this booster, targeting a landing at landing zone 2, which is not far from our launch pad.
07:14Now the Falcon 9 first stage is equipped with four landing legs, which are made of a carbon fiber with aluminum honeycomb mesh.
07:23And these are placed symmetrically around the base of the rocket and will deploy just prior to touchdown of the booster.
07:28Now you may notice the number 3 in today's mission name, indicating that this mission is our third dedicated ride-share mission to a mid-inclination orbit.
07:42Ride-share significantly increases access to space for small satellite operators around the world.
07:48Stage 1 landing burn.
07:52Now this is the beginning of Falcon 9's final burn, the landing burn.
07:56And there we have it.
08:25Another successful first stage landing at landing zone 2, making the third landing for this specific booster in SpaceX's 435th landing of an orbital class rocket.