Wednesday, December 20, 2017

SpaceX Targets Launch From Vandenberg On Friday; Falcon Heavy In Florida

Hawthorne-based SpaceX's next launch is planned for Friday, with a plan to launch another set of satellites for Iridium from Vandenberg Air Force Base, just north of Santa Barbara, on Friday. SpaceX also has sent its new rocket, the Falcon Heavy, to Florida, where it expects to conduct static firing tests for an upcoming launch early in the year. According to SpaceX, it is targeting a December 22nd launch of the Iridium-4 from Vandenberg. The Iridium-4 rocket launch is expected to use a "flight-proven" SpaceX Falcon 9, the first time Iridium has agreed to use a Falcon 9 booster which had previously been launched into space. That mission will launch 10 Iridium satellites into orbit around the earth. That launch, if successful, would cement acceptance of the re-use of SpaceX's Falcon 9 booster rockets, following a very successful launch last week of a payload to the ISS by NASA, also using a "flight-proven" Falcon 9.

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