Iridium chief executive Matt Desch spoke with Spaceflight Now on the eve of the first launch for the company’s next-generation satellite fleet, discussing the $3 billion upgrade’s technical and financial ramifications and his feelings before deployments begin in orbit.
Michel Denis, flight director for Europe’s ExoMars mission, spoke with Spaceflight Now on March 22 about the status of the spacecraft a week after its blastoff from Kazakhstan en route to the red planet.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off Monday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, then the launcher’s first stage returned to landing at nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station after sending a Dragon supply ship toward a rendezvous with the International Space Station.