Past launch
Launched successfully
Pandora / Twilight rideshare mission
Falcon 9 Block 5, flown by SpaceX
Launches / Falcon 9 Block 5
Falcon 9 Block 5, flown by SpaceX
This was SpaceX's 4th launch of 2026, and its 623rd in all.
Counting every operator, it was the fourth orbital launch attempt anywhere in 2026, and the second from Space Launch Complex 4E.
SpaceX
The Pandora small satellite was selected in 2021 as an inaugural mission in NASA’s Astrophysics Pioneers Program. It includes a 0.45-meter telescope that will improve our understanding of exoplanet atmospheres by disentangling exoplanet signals from their host stars, as well as studying host star variability with long-duration observations of 20 unique planets through visible-light photometry and near-infrared spectroscopy. Also launching on this launch are 39 other ride-share payloads under the "Falcon 9 Twilight mission" manifested by Exolaunch, including satellites from Spire Global and Kepler Communications.
Falcon 9 is a two-stage rocket designed and manufactured by SpaceX for the reliable and safe transport of satellites and the Dragon spacecraft into orbit. The Block 5 variant is the fifth major interval aimed at improving upon the ability for rapid reusability.
627 flights, 626 of them successful. 612 boosters brought back from 617 attempts.
Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX, is an American aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by entrepreneur Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs and enabling the colonization of Mars. SpaceX operates from many pads, on the East Coast of the US they operate from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and historic LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center. They also operate from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, usually for polar launches. Another launch site is being developed at Boca Chica, Texas.
724 launches so far, 709 of them successful. The last 209 in a row went to plan.
It went up from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA.
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