{"id":19032,"date":"2017-03-15T18:10:31","date_gmt":"2017-03-15T10:10:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/after-delay-spacex-launches-echostar-satellite-but-forgoes-rocket-landing\/"},"modified":"2017-03-15T18:10:31","modified_gmt":"2017-03-15T10:10:31","slug":"after-delay-spacex-launches-echostar-satellite-but-forgoes-rocket-landing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/after-delay-spacex-launches-echostar-satellite-but-forgoes-rocket-landing\/","title":{"rendered":"After delay, SpaceX launches EchoStar satellite \u2013 but forgoes rocket landing"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_317850\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-317850\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-317850\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/170315-spacex-630x514.jpg\" alt=\"SpaceX Falcon 9 launch\" width=\"630\" height=\"514\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/170315-spacex-630x514.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/170315-spacex.jpg 741w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-317850\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lights up the night at Kennedy Space Center\u2019s Launch Complex 39A. (SpaceX via YouTube)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>For the second time in a week, weather worries caused a delay in SpaceX\u2019s launch of the EchoStar 23 communications satellite&nbsp;\u2013 but this time, liftoff took place less than a half-hour later than planned.<\/p>\n<p>Tonight\u2019s Falcon 9 rocket launch sent the satellite on its way from the historic Launch Complex 39A at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It was the first time a purely commercial satellite launch took place at a pad that once served as the sending-off point for Apollo moon trips and space shuttle flights.<\/p>\n<p>SpaceX had intended to launch the 6-ton satellite for Colorado-based EchoStar early Tuesday ET (late Monday PT), but high winds forced a delay.<\/p>\n<p>This time around, the launch opportunity opened at 1:35 a.m. ET Thursday (10:35 p.m. PT today), but high-altitude winds during the countdown led SpaceX to add another 25 minutes to the wait. The winds settled down, and liftoff occurred at 2 a.m. ET (11 p.m. PT).<\/p>\n<p>Once EchoStar 23 settles into geostationary orbit, it will provide video and data services for customers in Brazil.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"SpaceX Falcon 9 EchoStar XXIII Launch\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xGeq9W_vVGA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Because of the satellite\u2019s heft, and because it had to be sent to such a high&nbsp;orbit, more than 22,000 miles above Earth\u2019s surface, SpaceX determined that there wouldn\u2019t be enough fuel remaining to try landing the Falcon 9 rocket\u2019s first stage. Instead, the booster fell into the Atlantic Ocean after stage separation.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s typical for expendable rockets, but over the past year, SpaceX\u2019s landing attempts have become so routine that what used to be typical is now worthy of note.<\/p>\n<p>SpaceX is aiming to lower the cost of access to space by retrieving and reusing its boosters. Last year the company\u2019s president, Gwynne Shotwell, said such reuse could bring about a 30 percent reduction in price, which is already low by industry standards ($62 million, according to SpaceX\u2019s online menu).<\/p>\n<p>Later this month, the company plans to launch a previously flown booster for the first time, with the aim of putting the SES 10 communication satellite into orbit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lights up the night at Kennedy Space Center\u2019s Launch Complex 39A. (SpaceX via YouTube) For the second time in a week, weather worries caused a delay in SpaceX\u2019s launch of the EchoStar 23 communications satellite&nbsp;\u2013 but this time, liftoff took place less than a half-hour later than [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[291,3156,20,316],"class_list":["post-19032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-commercial-space","tag-echostar","tag-satellite","tag-spacex"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19032"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19032\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}