{"id":19103,"date":"2017-01-14T20:45:37","date_gmt":"2017-01-14T12:45:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/spacex-returns-to-flight-with-iridium-satellite-launch-and-rocket-landing\/"},"modified":"2017-01-14T20:45:37","modified_gmt":"2017-01-14T12:45:37","slug":"spacex-returns-to-flight-with-iridium-satellite-launch-and-rocket-landing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/spacex-returns-to-flight-with-iridium-satellite-launch-and-rocket-landing\/","title":{"rendered":"SpaceX returns to flight with Iridium satellite launch \u2013 and rocket landing!"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_303141\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-303141\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-303141\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/32308163845_c1731a4b1f_o-630x432.jpg\" alt=\"SpaceX launch\" width=\"630\" height=\"432\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/32308163845_c1731a4b1f_o-630x432.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/32308163845_c1731a4b1f_o-768x526.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/32308163845_c1731a4b1f_o-1240x850.jpg 1240w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/32308163845_c1731a4b1f_o.jpg 2014w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-303141\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from California\u2019s Vandenberg Air Force Base. (SpaceX Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9 rocket lifted off for the first time in five months&nbsp;to put 10 advanced Iridium Next telecommunication sateliites in orbit \u2013 and demonstrate&nbsp;that the company\u2019s innovative launch-and-landing system was back in stride.<\/p>\n<p>Cheers went up from a crowd of hundreds of SpaceX employees at the company\u2019s headquarters as they watched the rocket ascend from California\u2019s Vandenberg Air Force Base at 9:54 a.m. PT. The cheers rose again minutes later when the Falcon 9\u2019s first stage landed on a drone ship in the Pacific for the first time.<\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s liftoff came after a spectacular launch pad explosion on Sept. 1 that destroyed a different Falcon 9 and its $200 million Amos-6 satellite payload.<\/p>\n<p>That blow-up forced a months-long suspension, during which SpaceX determined that the failure was caused by problems with a helium pressure vessel inside the rocket\u2019s second-stage liquid oxygen tank. To head off those problems, SpaceX changed its fueling procedures and will eventually redesign the vessels.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"SpaceX Falcon 9 Iridium-1 launch\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/C-HwYqbS8xU?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>In addition to marking SpaceX\u2019s return to flight, this mission marked the first deployment of Iridium\u2019s next-generation satellites. The satellites were deployed, one by one, into a pole-to-pole orbit to provide mobile and data communication services.<\/p>\n<p>SpaceX is due to put the 70-satellite constellation into place with seven launches over the course of the next year. Iridium Next is designed to deliver&nbsp;faster data transfer speeds and higher throughputs&nbsp;than Iridium\u2019s existing network, representing one of the largest \u201ctech upgrades\u201d in history.<\/p>\n<p>During the eight minutes following launch, the rocket\u2019s second stage and its payload separated from the first-stage booster. While the second stage powered onward to orbit, the first stage went through a series of maneuvers to slow itself down from supersonic speeds and guide itself to an oceangoing drone ship.<\/p>\n<p>The autonomous spaceport drone ship, christened \u201cJust Read the Instructions\u201d in homage to science-fiction author Iain M. Banks, was pre-positioned in the Pacific Ocean hundreds of miles offshore.<\/p>\n<p>SpaceX has successfully landed a Falcon 9 booster six times, including two touchdowns at its \u201cLanding Zone 1\u201d in Florida and four times on a drone ship in the Atlantic. This was the first Pacific touchdown.<\/p>\n<p>Capping off the day\u2019s coverage, launch commentator John Insprucker announced more than an hour after liftoff that all 10 Iridium Next satellites were deployed into their proper orbit.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a clean sweep, 10 for 10,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Over the next couple of days, the first-stage booster will be transported back to shore for inspection and refurbishing. Recovering and reusing rocket hardware is a key part of SpaceX\u2019s campaign to drive down the cost of access to space and clear the way for flights to Mars within the next decade. The first launch of a previously flown booster is expected to take place later this year.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s not the only highlight on this year\u2019s&nbsp;agenda for SpaceX: The California-based company is also gearing up for the first launch of its&nbsp;Falcon Heavy super-rocket from Vandenberg, as well as its first uncrewed flight test of a Dragon space taxi that\u2019s eventually meant to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from California\u2019s Vandenberg Air Force Base. (SpaceX Photo) SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9 rocket lifted off for the first time in five months&nbsp;to put 10 advanced Iridium Next telecommunication sateliites in orbit \u2013 and demonstrate&nbsp;that the company\u2019s innovative launch-and-landing system was back in stride. Cheers went up from a crowd of [&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":[291,4434,530,316],"class_list":["post-19103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-commercial-space","tag-falcon-launch","tag-iridium","tag-spacex"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19103"}],"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=19103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19103\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}