SpaceX just launched a satellite that could help pave the way for a private space station in the very near future.

A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida today at 1:09 a.m. EDT (0509 GMT), on a multi-satellite rideshare mission that SpaceX calls Bandwagon-4.

Among the 18 payloads on board the Falcon 9 is Haven Demo, a pathfinder for Haven-1, the private space station that California company Vast Space plans to launch to Earth orbit next year.

"The first step in our iterative approach towards building next-generation space stations, Haven Demo will test critical systems for Haven-1, including propulsion, flight computers and navigation software," Vast wrote in a description of the satellite.

Vast's Haven-1 will launch to low Earth orbit (LEO) ato

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