Follow the key events of the Falcon 9 rocket’s ascent to orbit with the another set of 10 next-generation satellites for Iridium’s voice and data relay fleet.
The 229-foot-tall (70-meter) rocket will lift off Friday at 7:31 a.m. PST (10:31 a.m. EST; 1531 GMT) from Space Launch Complex 4-East at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, standing 194 feet tall and and weighing a million pounds, unleashes 1.6 million pounds of thrust from its main engine and two side-mounted solid boosters to launch the secret NROL-52 payload for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office from Cape Canaveral.
Two months after it flew into space and landed smoothly, Blue Origin’s suborbital New Shepard booster made the trip again Friday, proving it can be reused for future space tourism jaunts and laying the groundwork for a future commercial satellite launcher, the company said.