SpaceX – Page 148 – Spaceflight Now

SpaceX launch adds another 10 satellites to Iridium Next fleet

October 9, 2017 Stephen Clark

Ten more satellites for Iridium’s upgraded voice and data communications fleet rode a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket into a nearly 400-mile-high orbit from California’s Central Coast Monday.

Video: Launch to landing replay of Monday’s Falcon 9 flight

October 9, 2017 Stephen Clark

Watch this replay of Monday’s liftoff of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, followed by touchdown of the booster’s first stage on a drone ship in the Pacific Ocean.

Live coverage: Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from California, lands in Pacific

October 9, 2017 Stephen Clark

SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket at 5:37 a.m. PDT (8:37 a.m. EDT; 1237 GMT) Monday from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California with the third set of 10 new-generation satellites for Iridium’s voice and data relay network. The Falcon 9’s first stage booster successfully landed on a platform in the Pacific Ocean a few minutes after liftoff.

Photos: SpaceX preps Falcon 9 rocket for launch from Vandenberg

October 8, 2017 Stephen Clark

SpaceX aims to launch a Falcon 9 rocket Monday from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California with 10 new satellites for Iridium’s tracking and message relay constellation in low Earth orbit.

Timeline for Falcon 9’s third launch of Iridium satellites

October 8, 2017 Stephen Clark

Follow the key events of the Falcon 9 rocket’s ascent to orbit with the third set of 10 next-generation satellites for Iridium’s voice and data relay fleet.

Iridium’s third batch of new satellites set for Monday launch

October 8, 2017 Stephen Clark

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 delays Falcon 9 launch of TV broadcast satellite

October 5, 2017 Stephen Clark

Liftoff of a previously-flown Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center with a European-built television broadcast satellite has been pushed back from Saturday until at least next Wednesday night, officials said.

Previously-flown Falcon 9 booster test-fired for weekend launch

October 2, 2017 Stephen Clark

SpaceX test-fired a reused Falcon 9 booster Monday at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, checking the rocket’s readiness for a planned liftoff Saturday with an Airbus-built commercial communications satellite.

Live coverage: Falcon 9 rocket test-fired in Florida

October 2, 2017 Stephen Clark

A previously-flown SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket booster conducted a test-firing Monday at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, ahead of a planned launch Oct. 7 with an Airbus-built communications satellite made for SES and EchoStar.

Elon Musk revises Mars plan, hopes for boots on ground in 2024

September 29, 2017 William Harwood

SpaceX plans to begin construction of a new rocket and spacecraft next year that could lead to human landings on Mars as early as 2024, scaling up technologies currently being perfected with the company’s Falcon 9 family of boosters to ensure reliability, reusability and, as a result, realistically low costs, founder Elon Musk said Friday.