SpaceX Launches Sparse Bandwagon-3 Mission with Just Three Payloads

SpaceX launched its Bandwagon-3 mission on April 21, marking the third installment in its series of dedicated mid-inclination rideshare flights.

The launch took place at 8:48 p.m. Eastern from Cape Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 40. The Falcon 9 booster, embarking on its third journey to space, executed a flawless landing back at Cape Canaveral, settling onto a landing pad adjacent to one used earlier that day by another Falcon 9 returning from the SpX-32 cargo resupply mission.

Despite being part of a rideshare series, Bandwagon-3 notably carried only three payloads; significantly fewer than its predecessors. Onboard were South Korea’s military satellite 425Sat-3, Tomorrow-S7 for weather prediction company Tomorrow.io, and Phoenix, the first-ever reentry vehicle from German aerospace startup ATMOS Space Cargo.

Bandwagon-3’s payload manifest contrasted sharply with the inaugural Bandwagon mission, which launched in April 2024 carrying 11 satellites, and the Bandwagon-2 mission from December 2024, which deployed 30 satellites.

SpaceX provided no official explanation for this reduced payload manifest. Industry sources, speaking anonymously, suggested the decreased demand might be due to both the niche appeal of mid-inclination orbits and the close timing of the mission; occurring just four months after Bandwagon-2.

The Bandwagon series, first announced by SpaceX in 2023, targets a growing but limited demand for mid-inclination orbits, second only to the popular sun-synchronous orbits serviced by its Transporter rideshare series. However, the Bandwagon missions are closely tied to a specific contract: deploying satellites for South Korea’s military under the program known as Project 425. Each Bandwagon mission thus far has included at least one satellite from this program.

With a fourth Bandwagon mission planned later in 2025, expected to deploy the final Project 425 satellite, the future of SpaceX’s mid-inclination rideshare program remains unclear. SpaceX’s official rideshare website currently lists no subsequent missions to mid-inclination orbits after this year.