Today, April 22, 2025, SpaceX successfully launched its Bandwagon-3 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The flight marked another milestone in SpaceX’s SmallSat Rideshare Program, offering dedicated Falcon 9 launches to mid-inclination orbits for small satellite operators.
Falcon 9 lifted off smoothly into the night sky at 00:48 UTC from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40). About two minutes into flight, the first and second stages separated, followed shortly by fairing separation.
Booster B1090-3, flying for the third time after supporting the O3b mPOWER-E and Crew-10 missions, executed a flawless landing at Landing Zone 2 (LZ-2) in Cape Canaveral around eight minutes after launch. Meanwhile, the second stage continued its ascent, delivering the payloads to a 45-degree mid-inclination orbit.
Among the spacecraft on board were ADD’s 425Sat-3, part of South Korea’s surveillance constellation; Tomorrow.io’s Tomorrow-S7, a weather radar satellite enhancing global forecasting capabilities; and the headline payload, ATMOS Space Cargo’s PHOENIX re-entry capsule.
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A new way to return payloads from space
Phoenix is an Inflatable Atmospheric Decelerator (IAD) developed by ATMOS Space Cargo to return payloads safely from low Earth orbit. The capsule uses no propellant, functioning as both a heat shield and high-speed parachute, and is built from lightweight, high-temperature-resistant materials, including a radiatively cooled Ceramic Matrix Composite skin.
PHOENIX-1’s inaugural flight marks a historic milestone, as ATMOS becomes the first private European company to attempt a space re-entry. The mission aims to validate the capsule’s Inflatable Heat Shield technology and gather critical data to advance commercial re-entry capabilities.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 second stage will perform the de-orbit burn over Los Angeles, then deploy the PHOENIX-1 capsule before re-entering the atmosphere. The trajectory will take it across South America, with re-entry expected over the Atlantic Ocean, about 2,000 kilometers off the coast of Brazil. An airborne reconnaissance operation has been deployed to monitor the descent phase, with a chartered aircraft equipped with a satellite terminal attempting to communicate with the capsule during re-entry.
Four experimental payloads, ranging from biological research to technology demonstrators, are on board. Customers include DLR with its M-42 radiation detector, Japan’s IDDK with its Micro Imaging Device for life science studies, and Frontier Space from the UK with a modular in-space bioreactor for microgravity manufacturing.
This inaugural test is the first in a series of orbital flights aimed at maturing ATMOS’s re-entry platform. The mission is expected to end with the capsule’s controlled demise during re-entry, paving the way for the upcoming Phoenix-2 mission.
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Investments and contracts: the future of ATMOS PHOENIX is in space
Just days before the successful launch of PHOENIX-1, ATMOS Space Cargo announced a €1 million investment from Mätch VC, a Stuttgart-based venture capital firm with strong ties to German industry. The funding reinforces Germany’s push for independent and sustainable space logistics and supports ATMOS’s mission to scale its reusable capsule technology.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Mätch VC and their network of industrial leaders to our mission. This investment aligns with our vision for strategic partnerships to integrate space logistics into key national infrastructure and economy to drive technological innovation.”
— Sebastian Klaus, CEO and Co-Founder of ATMOS
The investment will accelerate the development of PHOENIX 2, the next-generation reusable return capsule, allowing the company to move forward with commercial missions and expand its role in the growing in-space economy.
ATMOS has secured its first commercial flights through a strategic partnership with Space Cargo Unlimited (SCU). Between late 2025 and 2027, seven missions will carry SCU’s autonomous BENTOBOX platform to low Earth orbit aboard SpaceX rideshare launches, returning on PHOENIX capsules.
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