Friday, December 30, 2016

SpaceX Gears Up For Iridium Launch

Hawthorne, California-based SpaceX, the Los Angeles area space rocket developer led by billionaire Elon Musk, is getting set for its return to space, and has loaded up ten IridiumNEXT satellites into a Falcon 9 in preparation for a launch in January. According to Iridium, the first ten IridiumNEXT satellites have been stacked and encapsulated into a Falcon 9 fairing, as one of the first milestones to a launch of those satellites into space. Those satellites are expected to launch sometime in early January, from Vandenberg Air Force Base, a launch which should be visible to residents in Central and Southern California. SpaceX and Iridium have not yet announced the exact launch window for the satellite payload, which had originally been slated for launch in December.