SpaceX Launches Maiden Dedicated Ride-share Mission With Controversial Payload
https://wccftech.com/spacex-launches-maiden-dedicated-ride-share-mission-with-controversial-payload/
The SpaceX Falcon 9 before launch. SpaceX/YouTube
At 10:00 EST today Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) successfully launched its first satellite ridesharing mission of 2021. Dubbed as the Transporter-1, the mission took a staggering 143 small satellites to orbit, setting a new record in the process for the most satellites launched simultaneously. Propelling the Transporter-1 payload is SpaceX's Falcon 9 Block 5 B1058 booster, which is on its fifth flight and it is the same booster that carried the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) astronauts Col. Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley to the International Space Station (ISS) for the space agency's Dragon DM-2 mission that evaluated SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule for future missions. 7:39