Falcon 9 SpaceX launches South Korean Earth observation satellite, plus 44 more payloads on midnight Falcon 9 rideshare mission May 2, 2026 Will Robinson-Smith The CAS500-2 mission lifted off from pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base at 12 a.m. PDT (3 a.m. EDT / 0700 UTC). The Korea Aerospace Industries’ Compact Advanced Satellite 500 (CAS500) satellite was the first to deploy about an hour after liftoff.