SpaceX launches private space station pathfinder 'Haven Demo,' 17 other satellites to orbit

SpaceX just launched a satellite that could help pave the way for a private space station in the very near future.

A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida today at 1:09 a.m. EDT (0509 GMT), on a multi-satellite rideshare mission that SpaceX calls Bandwagon-4.

Among the 18 payloads on board the Falcon 9 is Haven Demo, a pathfinder for Haven-1, the private space station that California company Vast Space plans to launch to Earth orbit next year.

"The first step in our iterative approach towards building next-generation space stations, Haven Demo will test critical systems for Haven-1, including propulsion, flight computers and navigation software," Vast wrote in a description of the satellite.

Vast's Haven-1 will launch to low Earth orbit (LEO) atop a Falcon 9, perhaps as soon as the second quarter of 2026. If that schedule holds, Haven-1 — which can support up to four astronauts at a time — will be the first standalone private space station in human history.

The other 17 payloads that went up today will be operated by South Korea's Agency for Defense Development (ADD), the Berlin-based company Exolaunch, Turkey's Fergani Space, the weather-forecasting outfit Tomorrow Companies and Starcloud, which aims to build data centers in space.

The Falcon 9's first stage came back to Earth as planned today about eight minutes after launch, touching down at Cape Canaveral's Landing Zone-2. It was the third flight for this particular booster, according to SpaceX.

The rocket's upper stage, meanwhile, continued carrying the 18 payloads to orbit. It will deploy them over an hour-long stretch that begins about 12 minutes after liftoff with the separation of ADD's Korea 425 satellite.

As its name suggests, Bandwagon-4 was the fourth mission in SpaceX's Bandwagon series to lift off. The company also operates another rideshare program called Transporter, which has 14 launches to its name to date.

Bandwagon-4 was the 140th Falcon 9 launch of 2025 already. More than 70% of the rocket's missions this year have been dedicated to building out Starlink, SpaceX's huge and ever-growing broadband megaconstellation.