ISC Kosmotras – Spaceflight Now

Iridium to share Falcon 9 launch with NASA-German gravity satellites

February 6, 2017 Stephen Clark

Iridium has secured a launch for five more of its next-generation communications craft in a rideshare arrangement with two U.S.-German research satellites aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket by early 2018.

With Russian launch grounded, Iridium flips order of satellite deployments

February 29, 2016 Stephen Clark

Stymied by Russian government dithering that has indefinitely grounded a launch on a modified Soviet-era missile, Iridium officials say that SpaceX agreed to move up to July the first of seven Falcon 9 launches from California with the company’s next-generation mobile communications satellites.

Radio bug to keep new Iridium satellites grounded until April

November 10, 2015 Stephen Clark

The first launch for Iridium’s next-generation mobile communications fleet has been pushed back four months — from December until April — to resolve a technical problem inside the spacecraft’s Ka-band communications payload.

South Korean satellite launched by Dnepr rocket

March 26, 2015 Stephen Clark

A stockpiled Soviet-era ballistic missile shot out of an underground silo on a remote Russian military base Wednesday and powered into orbit with a South Korean Earth observation satellite.

Customers assured of Dnepr rocket’s near-term availability

February 6, 2015 Stephen Clark

Flights of the Russian-Ukrainian Dnepr rocket are expected to continue this year despite proclamations the satellite launcher program is suspended, officials said this week.