Falcon 9 Block 4 | Iridium-6 & GRACE-FO
Launch Successful
L - -- : -- : -- : --
May 22, 2018, 7:47 p.m.
Instantaneous launch window.
Launch Window
May 22, 2018, 7:47 p.m. - May 22, 2018, 7:47 p.m.
Instantaneous launch window.
May 22, 2018, 7:47 p.m. - May 22, 2018, 7:47 p.m.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will deliver 10 satellites to low Earth orbit for Iridium, a global leader in mobile voice and data satellite communications. This is the sixth set of 10 satellites in a series of 75 total satellites that SpaceX will launch for Iridium’s next generation global satellite constellation, Iridium® NEXT. Sharing this launch is the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-on mission, which is a joint project of NASA and the German Research Centre for Geosciences. It's goal is to track Earth's water movement to monitor changes in underground water storage, the amount of water in large lakes and rivers, soil moisture, ice sheets and glaciers, and sea level caused by the addition of water to the ocean.
The Full Thrust variants first stage includes all systems necessary for an operational re-use of stages while the second stage is operated as an expendable rocket stage.
See Falcon Details
Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX, is an American aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by entrepreneur Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs and enabling the colonization of Mars. SpaceX operates from many pads, on the East Coast of the US they operate from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and historic LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center. They also operate from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, usually for polar launches. Another launch site is being developed at Boca Chica, Texas.
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