Posted: Wed, Jan 30, 2013, 8:07 AM ET (1307 GMT)
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SpaceX will launch a satellite for an Israeli satellite operator in 2015, the companies announced Tuesday. A SpaceX Falcon 9 will launch the Amos-6 communications satellite from Cape Canaveral in 2015. The two companies had signed a contract in 2010 for the launch of an unspecified satellite "as early as December 2012", although the specific satellite was not mentioned at the time. The satellite, a 5,500-kilogram spacecraft being built by Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI), will replace the existing Amos-2 satellite.