TESS launch replay from launch pad camera

Ten new satellites for Iridium’s $3 billion next-generation communications network are set for launch Monday from California’s Central Coast aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

SpaceX is set to close out a record-breaking 2017 launch campaign Friday night with the delivery of 10 more Iridium voice and data relay satellites to orbit from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

An extended mission for the Falcon 9 rocket’s second stage after launch Thursday with a space station cargo ship helped demonstrate SpaceX’s ability to perform long-duration flight sequences to inject U.S. military payloads directly into high-altitude geosynchronous orbit.