Elon Musk's SpaceX is finally back on track as Falcon 9 successfully completed its flight after more than 4 months since the September explosion. Dubbed the "Iridium-1" mission, the Falcon 9 rocket was successfully launched last Saturday from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, at 9:54 a.m. PST. Its booster safely landed on the drone ship in the Pacific.
Falcon 9 carried a payload for Iridium Communications Inc. The payload comprised of 10 next-generation Iridium telephone satellites, which the rocket lifted into orbit.
"The new satellites are a lot more powerful, a lot more processing power, they've got a lot more memory, a lot more capacity, they actually expand our ability to support customers," Desch said in a report by CBS News. "They're easier to operate," he added.
Iridium, a voice and data company, plans to replace its entire existing global network of satellites with 70 new ones. This project, called Iridium NEXT, has already been scheduled for launch and was delayed by the devastating accident last September. And then a storm headed for California last weekend that further delayed the launch.
There will be six more Falcon 9 launches planned by Iridium. Each will carry 10 satellites as the upgrade is slated to be completed by 2018. The company requires a total of 66 satellites in orbit for a global coverage. But it intends to launch 15 more for backup in case a malfunction happens while in-orbit and serve as insurance in the event of launch failure.
Launching the satellites into orbit was not the only great feat SpaceX was able to achieve during last Saturday's launch. CNN noted that rockets have been historically discarded after launch. However, since the cost is around millions, getting them back through a mastery of return landing allows space travels to be more affordable.
First stage has landed on Just Read the Instructions pic.twitter.com/W0EoLaO4YR
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 14, 2017
Falcon 9 is SpaceX's 7th successful landing after 12 attempts. Since Falcon 9 is a 2-stage rocket, first stage, booster, landed on a droneship in the Pacific Ocean. This was a feat only accomplished by 4 other Falcon rockets. The company plans on using the boosters for its lined up missions.
There will be 27 more rockets to be launched by SpaceX this year. Apart from clearing up the payload backlog the company has accumulated, SpaceX was also hired by NASA to fly a cargo to the International Space Station.
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