Space Exploration Technologies launches NASA Pandora mission to study exoplanet atmospheres
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) launched the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Pandora mission on a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB) in California on Jan. 11, placing the spacecraft into orbit alongside a batch of small satellites.
The flight carried 40 total payloads, marking the first shared rideshare launch under the “Twilight” mission category, which is built around dusk-dawn sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) deployments. Payload separation began about an hour after liftoff and continued during a planned deployment sequence.
Pandora’s mission is focused on exoplanet atmospheric studies. The spacecraft is designed to observe 20 exoplanets and their host stars during planetary transits, when a planet passes in front of its star from the telescope’s perspective, allowing measurements that help characterize atmospheric features. The mission’s planned observations are aimed at identifying indicators linked to water, clouds, and haze.
The Falcon 9 first stage completed a return-to-launch-site landing at Landing Zone 4 (LZ-4) at VSFB about 8 minutes and 15 seconds after liftoff, and the payloads were deployed into low Earth orbit (LEO) during the rideshare sequence.
NASA briefed that Pandora was manifested as part of the Twilight rideshare mission and launched from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at VSFB. The launch was carried live, with pre-launch coverage beginning shortly before liftoff.
The launch was also listed as SpaceX’s fifth mission since the start of 2026. A day earlier, a Falcon 9 flight placed 29 Starlink satellites into orbit as part of ongoing constellation expansion for broadband satellite internet service.
Starlink, operated by SpaceX, was described as the largest satellite constellation assembled to date, with active spacecraft reported at about 9,480 satellites and a stated goal of delivering high-speed, low-latency internet coverage globally.
