🚀 Falcon 9 | 🛰 Mission Possible
Launch date: June 1, 2025 00:00 UTC
Payload: Mission Possible
Location: California, United States
Vehicle: Falcon 9
The Exploration Company has shipped its Mission Possible capsule to California for launch on the SpaceX Falcon 9 Transporter-14 rideshare mission, targeted for June 2025. Mission Possible is a 2.5-meter subscale demonstrator for the Nyx modular spacecraft and marks the company’s first commercial mission, carrying small customer payloads. Once in space, the capsule will remain attached to the Falcon 9 upper stage through deorbit, after which it will begin atmospheric reentry. The capsule lacks independent deorbit propulsion. The mission aims to validate hardware and operational procedures for future, larger Nyx variants, with the company acknowledging inherent risks while maximizing the chances for success.
SLC-4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, USA
Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) is part of the larger Space Launch Complex 4 at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. Originally built as Launch Complex 75-1-2 and used by the U.S. Air Force for Atlas-Agena and Titan rockets in the 1960s and 1970s, it was later refurbished by SpaceX beginning in 2011. SpaceX rebuilt the facility to support Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches aimed at sun-synchronous and polar orbits—trajectories best served from Vandenberg.
The first Falcon 9 launch from SLC-4E took place in September 2013. Since then, it has become SpaceX’s primary West Coast launch site, supporting both government and commercial payloads, including earth observation and reconnaissance satellites. In addition to supporting reusable launch vehicle operations, SLC-4E also hosts infrastructure for rocket landing and recovery, helping to advance SpaceX’s reusability efforts.