Space X set to launch Transporter-14 rideshare mission
June 23 (UPI) -- SpaceX is set to launch its Transporter-14 rideshare mission, carrying multiple satellites and human DNA.
The flight is set to launch from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base with a 57-minute flight window set to open at 5:18 p.m. EDT.
The flight is set to carry 70 payloads, including cubesats, microsats and re-entry capsules.
A German Company, Exolaunch, will also deploy a payload carrying 45 satellites of deployment hardware on this flight, its largest ever deployment including a satellite that is used to study water quality from space, and a Earth observation satellite will be used to look over cloudy conditions.
Exolaunch CEO Robert Sproles said that SpaceX's rideshare program is "industry enabling".
"It gives an opportunity to really pressure test not only our hardware, but all of our systems and missions management to make this a very smooth process for our customers so that they have a really easy time," Sproles said.
Celetsis, a Houston-based company behind space-burial services, announced the flight would also have a payload that is carrying over 150 flight capsules with DNA and human remains.
The payload from Celetsis will reach low Earth orbit and did two or three circuits around before re-entering the atmosphere. The capsules were then recovered from the Pacific Ocean and returned to the clients.
"Celestis is pleased to offer a new type of Earth Rise mission, thanks to The Exploration Company," the company's co-founder and CEO Charles Chafer, said in a statement. "Our participants' capsules will orbit the Earth and return via the Mission Possible capsule, creating a spectacular liftoff and recovery experience."
Transporter was initially set to launch on Sunday but was scrubbed due to unfavorable weather.
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