Two communications satellites blasted off Sunday aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, kicking off more than a half-year of novel maneuvers in orbit using plasma drive engines to position the spacecraft 22,300 miles above Earth and link the Americas, Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
SpaceX’s 22-story Falcon 9 rocket stands on Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad Sunday, hours before the scheduled liftoff of a pair of commercial communications satellites for Eutelsat and Asia Broadcast Satellite.
A new class of Boeing-built spacecraft will fly into orbit for the first time Sunday aboard a Falcon 9 rocket, combining Boeing’s electric propulsion technology with SpaceX’s bargain launch prices to send up communications satellites at a fraction of the typical cost.
Two communications spacecraft built by Boeing and owned by Eutelsat and Asia Broadcast Satellite will ride a Falcon 9 rocket into orbit Sunday, and these pictures show the satellites stacked together and prepared for liftoff from Cape Canaveral.
SpaceX has launched its third Falcon 9 of the year. The rocket is carrying a pair of communications payloads for Eutelsat and Asia Broadcast Satellite.