US Air Force evaluates point-to-point cargo delivery with SpaceX rocket

The Rocket Cargo project is exploring the viability of using commercial liquid-fuelled rockets to rapidly deliver cargo anywhere on Earth.

The US Air Force is testing whether space launch rockets could be used to dramatically reduce air cargo delivery times in an emergency.

An Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) project known as Rocket Cargo is exploring the viability of point-to-point materiel deliveries using commercially available liquid-propellant rockets. Such a system could see loads reach their destination across the globe in mere minutes, rather than hours.

On 20 October, the AFRL tested the point-to-point delivery concept with a SpaceX rocket, which launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The Falcon 9 rocket was carrying one of SpaceX’s Starfall capsules — a re-entry vehicle designed for point-to-point and low Earth orbit cargo delivery.

The mission, dubbed Bandwagon-5 by SpaceX, was part of the launch provider’s rideshare programme, which allows multiple owners of small satellites to book space on the same rocket. The Starfall capsule was equipped with instrumentation to measure temperature, shock, and vibration of the vehicle’s cargo environments.

According to a SpaceX log of the mission, the Starfall capsule deployed 2h and 48m after lift-off from Florida, after the commercial satellite payloads had been placed into orbit. It was the 19th launch for the reusable Falcon 9 first stage booster, which returned to Earth and landed on an autonomous ‘droneship’ barge in the Atlantic.

“Any day you launch a rocket is a good day, but today was more than just another big rocket launch,” says Brigadier General Douglas Wickert, commander of the AFRL.

“Today’s launch was another demonstration of how AFRL is partnering with industry to burn down risk, collect hard data and deliver war-winning technologies for the operational force.”

Inside the Starfall were several ‘agile cargo pods’ built by the AFRL expressly for the purpose of space transport. Each red-orange pod contained a sampling of mission equipment that might need to be rushed to frontline troops, plus environmental sensors to evaluate payload integrity during launch and re-entry.

One of the Air Force Research Laboratory cargo pods that was carried to space inside a SpaceX Starfall capsule. Source: AFRL

The AFRL says its Rocket Cargo team was especially interested in the impact on electronics equipment and survival gear. These included an L3Harris VHF handheld tactical radio, batteries, a reverse osmosis desalinator, emergency medical equipment and field rations.

Although not carried during the launch, engineers also conducted Starfall fit checks with a UNI-PAC III life raft for potential future use. The 20-person search and rescue system was developed to be airdropped from the Boeing P-8A maritime patrol aircraft to assist survivors in emergency situations at sea.

That manifest suggests the air force is looking at rocket cargo delivery as a possible means for resupplying downed pilots, special operations teams cut off from conventional support, or sailors whose ships have sunk.

SpaceX has shared little publicly about the Starfall cargo capsule, which logged its first launch in June 2026. Source: SpaceX

Although the cargo loads evaluated on 20 October were quite small, the ARFL says the Rocket Cargo concept holds a significantly larger potential total cargo delivery capacity of “tens of tonnes per launch”.

“This could one day support rapid global mobility to contested environments and austere sites without access to runways and roads, including contested logistics, expeditionary operations, rescue operations, disaster relief, and response to chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear hazards,” the agency says.

Although the lab did not immediately disclose the results of the test launch, Adam Remaly, director of the AFRL’s technology transition office, describes the Starfall mission as a “critical achievement” in demonstrating the potential of point-to-point delivery.

This was only the second Starfall launch for SpaceX, with the first taking place in June.

At the time, the company described the capsule as a “new vehicle that will enable affordable, routine access to the microgravity environment for scientific research and in-space manufacturing”.

The AFRL says it will continue to assess various rocket and re-entry capsule options across the commercially available market and potential uses for that capability. In addition to SpaceX, the agency says it is working with Blue Origin, Rocket Lab, Sierra Space, Anduril Industries, Inversion Space and Outpost Space.

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