SpaceX preparing for Iridium return-to-flight launch
Posted: Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 10:50 AM ET (1550 GMT)
The return to flight of SpaceX's Falcon 9 grows closer as its payload of satellites is prepared for launch. Iridium released a photo Thursday of 10 Iridium Next satellites being encapsulated in the Falcon 9's payload fairing at Vandenberg Air Force Base, a step usually taken relatively close to a scheduled launch. That launch, the first since a Sept. 1 pad explosion destroyed a Falcon 9 and its satellite payload, is tentatively scheduled for Jan. 7, pending the outcome of an investigation into the explosion and the FAA's issuance of a commercial launch license for the mission.
The return to flight of SpaceX's Falcon 9 grows closer as its payload of satellites is prepared for launch. Iridium released a photo Thursday of 10 Iridium Next satellites being encapsulated in the Falcon 9's payload fairing at Vandenberg Air Force Base, a step usually taken relatively close to a scheduled launch. That launch, the first since a Sept. 1 pad explosion destroyed a Falcon 9 and its satellite payload, is tentatively scheduled for Jan. 7, pending the outcome of an investigation into the explosion and the FAA's issuance of a commercial launch license for the mission.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
|
|
news links
|
|
Thursday, June 11
Boosting European leadership in in-space operations and services
ESA — 6:40 am ET (1040 GMT) Estonian municipalities test Starlink to bolster crisis readiness
ERR — 6:39 am ET (1039 GMT) Starlink mission set to go Thursday morning from Vandenberg Space Force Base
Lompoc Record — 6:37 am ET (1037 GMT) Rural Americans flocked to Elon Musk’s Starlink. Now some feel trapped.
Washington Post — 6:36 am ET (1036 GMT) India’s satellite broadband crackdown: Three operators, one bottleneck, no launch date
Communications Today — 6:35 am ET (1035 GMT) |
