SpaceX launches Falcon 9 on Transporter-14 rideshare mission

On June 23, 2025, SpaceX is set to launch its Falcon 9 rocket for the Transporter 14 rideshare mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 2:18 PM PDT. This mission represents a significant step in commercial space operations, as it will deploy a diverse array of payloads, including 45 satellites from various international customers . Among the notable payloads are Gilmour Space's ElaraSat and Hydrosat's VanZyl-2 Earth observation satellite, which underscore the growing importance of satellite technology in global communication and environmental monitoring.

The Houston-based company has sent the DNA and other remains of loved ones, pets and celebrities into outer space on a series of missions using a variety of rockets, including United Launch Alliance's new Vulcan Centaur.

Such vehicles have carried the cremated remains and/or DNA samples of a number of "Star Trek" legends, including Nichelle Nichols, DeForest Kelley, Gene Roddenberry and his wife Majel Barrett Roddenberry and James "Scotty" Doohan. Celestis has also helped fly "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" visual effects legend Douglas Trumbull and the symbolic remains of four former U.S. presidents: George Washington, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, aboard last year's deep-space "Enterprise Flight."

Sunday’s forecast calls for sunny skies with a high temperature near 66 degrees. But, the forecast also includes northwest winds of 20 to 25 mph, with gusts as high as 35 mph, according to the National Weather Service.

The first-stage booster, making its 26th flight, will land on a droneship about eight minutes after the rocket’s departure from Vandenberg. 

Transporter-14 involves a dedicated smallsat rideshare mission made up of 70 payloads, including cubesats, microsats, re-entry capsules, and orbital transfer vehicles carrying three of those payloads to be deployed at a later time.

Additionally, the Transporter 14 mission will carry over 150 capsules containing cremated remains and DNA samples from Celestis customers . This aspect highlights an emerging niche within the space industry that caters to personal memorialization in space. As Celestis embarks on its twelfth "Earth Rise" flight and twenty-fifth overall mission, it exemplifies the intersection of commercial enterprise with human emotion and remembrance . Such missions not only advance technological capabilities but also enrich our cultural connection to space exploration.

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Sara H

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