Technology
SpaceX's First 2019 Launch Completes Iridium Satellite Network
- First stage of rocket lands on drone ship in Pacific Ocean
- NEXT satellites carry equipment for airline flight tracking
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Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. kicked off what promises to be a busy 2019 by blasting a rocket carrying satellites for longtime customer Iridium Communications Inc. into orbit.
The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off Friday at 7:31 a.m. from Vandenberg Air Force Base on California’s central coast, carrying 10 Iridium NEXT satellites. SpaceX began releasing them into orbit about an hour later at an altitude of roughly 390 miles and completed deployment within 15 minutes. They are the last of 75 satellites that replace Iridium’s existing network for commercial communications. SpaceX landed the rocket’s first stage on a drone ship in the Pacific Ocean.