SpaceX launches the week with a rideshare mission

A rideshare mission carrying 45 payloads launched out of Vandenberg Space Force Base early Sunday morning. 

The mission, dubbed CAS500-2, is named for the primary payload called Compact Advanced Satellite 500-2 from the Korea Aerospace Industries, Ltd. (KAI). It’s the second of two satellites that KAI calls Phase 1 of its CAS500 program, which is designed for “precision ground-based observation.”

Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East happened at 12 AM PDT (3 AM EDT / 0700 UTC). The rocket deployed the CAS500-2 satellite into a Sun-synchronous orbit about 60 minutes after launch. 

The story gets a bit longer here. CAS500-2 has been delayed years after the "-1" flight.

According to Korea JoongAng Daily, a South Korean publication, the CAS500-2 satellite was originally scheduled to launch in 2022 on a Russian rocket, but the mission faced years of delays due to Russia’s war against Ukraine.

“Additional delays occurred after SpaceX changed plans for a joint launch with another satellite, resulting in a separate launch,” reporter Yoon Seung-Jin wrote. “As a result, CAS500-2 will launch later than CAS500-3, which was sent into space aboard Korea’s Nuri rocket in November last year.”

CAS500-4 and CAS500-5 round out Phase 2 of KAI’s CAS500 program. Those satellites were slated to launch in 2025, but a new launch date for those has not been announced.

In what's getting to be a bit less remarkable every time it happens, booster B1071 completed its 33rd flight on this mission. To be honest, when I think completing anything over 30 flights is getting to be unremarkable, that thought always gets slapped by another part of my brain saying, "remember when they thought maybe they could get 10 launches out of a Falcon 9? And now they're saying they think they can get to 40."  The overall fleet leader is B1067-34 which flew mission 34 on March 30. I want to see B1067 get to 40. 

Around 7.5 minutes after liftoff, B1071 landed at Landing Zone 4 (LZ-4), adjacent to the pad it launched from on Vandenberg SFB. This was the 34th landing at this site and the 608th booster landing for SpaceX to date.

As mentioned, this was a rideshare mission and B1071 carried 44 other payloads manifested by multiple partners. The vast majority of the satellites were supplied by Exolaunch, using a variety of deployment mechanisms. The launch support company deployed 21 CubeSats and 18 MicroSats across two deployment sequences.

The first batch of satellites were released beginning about an hour and 16 minutes after liftoff, over a period of six minutes, and the second batch about two hours and 22 minutes after liftoff, in a sequence lasting about eight minutes.

“This mission reflects how Exolaunch is scaling alongside growing launch demand,” said Jeanne Allarie, chief investor relations officer at Exolaunch, in statement. “As we quickly expand the number of missions we support each year, we’re strengthening our sales pipeline and deepening collaboration with SpaceX to deliver consistent, reliable access to orbit for our global customers.”

And there were more. This one caught my eye because it's in my hometown.

Argotec, an Italian company that opened a new satellite integration facility in Melbourne, Florida, in April 2026, manifested seven of its HEO (Hawk for Earth Observation) MicroSats, which are part of the IRIDE (Iniziativi di Resilienza per l’Italia Dalle Emergenze) constellation. IRIDE also has support from the European Space Agency (ESA).

There were eight HEO satellites on orbit prior to May 3, which launched on two previous Falcon 9 rockets.

IRIDE is described by participant company Telespazio, a Leonardo and Thales company, as a “constellation of constellations.” There are more than 73 Italian companies participating in its construction and operation.

Screen capture of the X posting by Exolaunch.

There are still more companies and payloads on this mission, thanks to the combination of the low cost, reusable Falcon 9 and rideshare model of launching "anybody that wants to put a satellite into some of the more desirable orbits." An impressive mission, but for most people around the country, I'm sure it's "just another launch."