Transporter-14, A New Successful Rideshare Mission by SpaceX

On June 23, 2025, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 successfully launched the Transporter-14 rideshare mission, taking off at 21:25 UTC from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base. The flight, part of SpaceX’s ongoing program to deploy small-satellite and reentry-vehicle missions to Sun-synchronous orbit, carried approximately 70 payloads.

Liftoff! pic.twitter.com/CnqRlaos1y
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) June 23, 2025

Following liftoff, the first-stage booster separated from the second stage at approximately T+2 minutes 30 seconds. The second stage continued into its sun‑synchronous insertion.

The Falcon 9 first stage, identified as Booster B1071, executed a boost‑back and re‑entry burn before touching down smoothly on the Of Course I Still Love You drone ship in the Pacific at approximately T+7 minutes 45 seconds into the flight.

Transporter14 fully integrated payload dispenser. Credits: SpaceX — *Transporter-14’s fully integrated payload dispenser. The Nyx Mission Possible capsule is visible at the top of the stack. Credits: SpaceX*

Transporter-14 carried a rich assortment of around 70 payloads, including two re-entry capsules, NASA’s PADRE 12U CubeSat, and a significant Italian contribution: seven HEO microsatellites (“Hawk for Earth Observation”), built by Argotec for the IRIDE program. These microsats form the next wave of Europe’s largest Earth-observation constellation, equipped with multispectral imagers and onboard AI processing capabilities.

Exolaunch delivered 45 customer satellites, marking the biggest mission for the company to date.

“Mission Possible” for The Exploration Company

The centerpiece of Transporter-14 is the Mission Possible demonstrator from The Exploration Company, a pivotal milestone for Europe’s first reusable space capsule. At 1.6 tonnes and 2.5 m in diameter, this sub-scale version is designed to carry around 300 kg of commercial cargo, including pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and even small-batch alcohol, all securely enclosed within its pressurized and unpressurized compartments.

*Nyx Mission Possible capsule. Credits: The Exploration Company / Ronamae Stewart*

The mission follows a 2024 technical dress rehearsal, Nyx Bikini, which remained attached to the Ariane-6 upper stage and couldn’t attempt reentry. While Bikini verified interfaces, power systems, and communications in orbit, Mission Possible went a step further.

As declared by the company, the capsule successfully detached from the rocket, re-entered, and re-established communications after the atmospheric reentry blackout. However, communications with Mission Possible were lost shortly before splashdown. The Exploration Company will investigate the root causes of the mishap.

At the Paris Air Show, The Exploration Company unveiled its ambition to develop Nyx into a crewed spacecraft capable of carrying 4–5 astronauts, featuring interior elements such as windows and touchscreen controls. A crewed variant could be realized within 10 years, with an estimated budget of €1 billion, pending support from ESA member states during the upcoming Bremen ministerial conference.

*The Exploration Company unveils proposed crew capsule. Credits: The Exploration Company*

This bold roadmap positions Nyx not only as a versatile commercial cargo vehicle, with ISS demonstration missions slated for around 2028, but also as potentially Europe’s first domestically developed crewed spacecraft by the mid-2030s, heralding a new era in European human spaceflight.

Varda’s W‑Series Capsule & FAA License Extension

Transporter-14 also carried the highly anticipated Varda W‑4 capsule, marking the debut of their in-house–built spacecraft. The W‑series has already demonstrated its capability: W‑1 landed in Utah in early 2024, becoming the first commercial capsule to reenter under FAA’s Part 450 regulations, and W‑2 and W‑3 followed in Australia with payloads from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, returning valuable hypersonic flight data.

For W‑4, Varda didn’t rely on Rocket Lab’s Photon bus; it designed and built the entire spacecraft internally, including its C‑PICA heat shield. While the capsule’s body and shield were manufactured in-house at their El Segundo facility, two shoulder tiles were still produced by NASA at Ames to assess the comparative durability of their new manufacturing methods.

*Varda engineers at Vandenberg Space Force Base with the W-4 vehicle. Credit: Varda Space Industries*

In a significant regulatory milestone, Varda secured a five-year, multi-mission FAA Part 450 license, valid through February 2029, authorizing unlimited reentries of W-series vehicles, most likely in Australia, without requiring new approvals for each mission.

This makes Varda the first company to fully leverage the FAA’s performance-based licensing, streamlining operations and reducing administrative burdens.

With both an in-house spacecraft and a long-term FAA license, Varda is strategically positioned to ramp up to a monthly flight cadence, aiming to serve pharmaceutical, defense, and scientific customers with rapid-turnaround orbital manufacturing and hypersonic experiments.

^{Cover image credits: SpaceX}