SpaceX launches human remains, reentry capsules and more on Transporter 14 rideshare mission

SpaceX just launched another big fleet of satellites to the final frontier.

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 70 payloads for a variety of customers lifted off from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base today (June 23) at 5:25 p.m. EDT (2125 GMT; 2:25 p.m. local California time), on a rideshare mission known as Transporter 14.

Transporter 14 is lofting microsats, cubesats and reentry capsules, including one that’s carrying cremated remains and human DNA on a memorial mission.

a black and white rocket lifts off into an overcast, foggy sky, its thrust lighting the landscape below — A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying 70 different payloads lifts off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in Florida on Monday, June 23, 2025. (Image credit: SpaceX)

The Falcon 9’s first stage came back to Earth today as planned, touching down on the SpaceX drone ship “Of Course I Still Love You” in the Pacific Ocean about 8.5 minutes after liftoff.

It was the 26th launch and landing for this particular booster, according to a SpaceX mission description. That’s close to the company’s reusability record, which currently stands at 28 flights.

The rocket’s upper stage, meanwhile, continued powering its way to low Earth orbit, where it has a lot of work to do: It will deploy the menagerie of payloads over a nearly two-hour span that begins roughly 54 minutes after launch.

the first stage of a rocket is seen standing vertically on its four legs after touching down from space on an ocean-based platform — The first stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stands vertically on the droneship “Of Course I Still Love You” in the Pacific Ocean on Monday, June 23, 2025. (Image credit: SpaceX)

Those payloads include private Earth-observing satellites, such as Capella Space’s Capella-17 synthetic aperture radar craft, and Starfish Space’s Otter Pup 2, which will attempt to perform the first-ever commercial docking in LEO later this year.

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Transporter 14 is also carrying the fourth reentry capsule for California company Varda Space, which is working to manufacture pharmaceuticals and other goods in space and return them to Earth.

Also aboard the Falcon 9 upper stage is The Exploration Company’s new Nyx reusable spacecraft, which is flying a memorial mission in cooperation with the space-burial company Celestis.

Nyx — the final payload to be deployed today — is carrying cremated remains and/or DNA from about 150 people. If all goes to plan, the spacecraft will circle Earth two or three times and then be recovered.

As its name suggests, Transporter 14 is the 14th mission in SpaceX’s rideshare series. The first of these, Transporter 1 back in January 2021, set a single-launch record, sending a whopping 143 satellites to orbit.

The company also operates another rideshare program called Bandwagon, which has three missions under its belt to date.

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Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, “Out There,” was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor’s degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.