World News Update: SpaceX launches Bandwagon-5 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida; Iran says its mines set two tankers ablaze near Hormuz

Launch: Falcon 9 Bandwagon-5 (after liftoff)

Rocket

SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5 / Bandwagon-5 rideshare mission

Launch site

Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40), Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida

Time (CT)

Liftoff at 6:04 a.m. CT Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026 (7:04 a.m. ET; Launch Library 2 T-0 11:04:00 UTC and update "Liftoff."; SpaceX posted "Liftoff!" on X at 6:04 a.m. CT). Booster landing at about 6:13 a.m. CT (time of SpaceX's landing post on X).

Result

Launch successful. SpaceX said on X that Falcon 9's first stage landed on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship. Launch Library 2 records the landing as successful: B1085 landed on ASDS ASOG after its 19th flight. SpaceX has not yet publicly confirmed deployment of every payload.

Cargo

32 payloads including cubesats, microsats and reentry vehicles, per SpaceX, among them the second demonstration of SpaceX's Project Starfall reentry capsule (Launch Library 2). SpaceX's deploy timeline lists customers including ICEYE, Capella Space, Umbra, Planet, Varda Space Industries, Tomorrow.io, Xona Space Systems, Viasat and PlanetiQ.

Booster

B1085, reused, 19th flight (SpaceX; Launch Library 2). Previous missions include Crew-9, RRT-1, Firefly Blue Ghost Mission 1, Fram2, SXM-10, MTG-S1, EchoStar XXV, SXM-11 and 10 Starlink missions. Landed successfully on A Shortfall of Gravitas (ASOG) in the Atlantic Ocean.

Our view Another step toward Mars: a booster that once carried astronauts toward the space station just flew and landed for the 19th time, and that kind of cheap, routine reuse is what SpaceX is counting on to make trips to Mars affordable.

SpaceX posted "Liftoff!" on X at 11:04 UTC (6:04 a.m. CT) and "Falcon 9's first stage has landed on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship" at 11:13 UTC (6:13 a.m. CT). Launch Library 2 lists T-0 at 11:04:00 UTC and a successful ASOG landing for B1085.

Before liftoff: our earlier World News Update on Bandwagon-5

World news since the Florida launch

• Iran's Revolutionary Guard says its mines set two oil tankers ablaze south of the Strait of Hormuz Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps navy said Tuesday that two oil tankers caught fire and were stopped after hitting naval mines Monday night in a passage south of the Strait of Hormuz that Tehran calls an illegal route, Iran International and Al Arabiya, citing AFP, reported. The statement called the ships 'violators,' warned that vessels crossing the mined passage could be set ablaze, and did not identify the tankers or report any casualties, Iran International said. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday that Tehran's seven-day plan to reopen the strait if Washington accepts its conditions remains on the table, while the United States wants substantial limits on Iran's uranium enrichment, Iran International reported. (Iran International, Al Arabiya (AFP))
• Alberta votes to remain in Canada, about 76% to 24%, CBC News projects Albertans voted to remain in Canada in Monday's referendum, the CBC News Decision Desk projected; with more than one million votes counted as of 12:30 a.m., 76.5% backed the 'remain' option and 23.5% backed starting the legal process toward a binding referendum on separation. Premier Danielle Smith said she was 'very pleased' and will address Albertans Tuesday evening, and she had said earlier this month she would not hold a second independence referendum while she is premier. Results on the other nine questions, five on immigration and four proposing constitutional changes, are still being counted, CBC reported. (CBC News)
• DHS extends temporary protected status for about 101,000 Ukrainians and 1,800 Sudanese The Department of Homeland Security extended temporary protected status for more than 100,000 nationals of Ukraine and Sudan, the Washington Examiner reported. The move reverses the protection's scheduled expiration on Monday and lets roughly 101,000 Ukrainians and 1,800 Sudanese stay in the United States for now. (Washington Examiner)

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