SpaceX launches smallsat rideshare mission to space

U.S. private space company SpaceX launched its fourth smallsat rideshare mission on Friday, deploying 40 spacecraft to space.

The mission, dubbed Transporter-4, was launched on a Falcon 9 rocket at 12:24 p.m. Eastern Time from the Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

Following stage separation, SpaceX landed Falcon 9's first stage on the Just Read the Instructions droneship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.

SpaceX later confirmed the rideshare deployment sequence was complete.

Transporter-4 is SpaceX's fourth smallsat rideshare mission. On this flight are 40 spacecraft, including CubeSats, microsats, picosats, non-deploying hosted payloads, and an orbital transfer vehicle carrying spacecraft to be deployed at a later time, according to SpaceX.