A Space Block 5 Falcon 9 lifted off successfully on Wednesday morning.
SpaceX
SpaceX launched another of its reusable Block 9 Falcon 9 booster from California early Wednesday.
The rocket successfully deployed 10 satellites for Iridium from Vandenburg Air Force Base at 4:39 am PST, in the seventh of eight scheduled launches of 75 satellites that’ll be used to upgrade the sat-phone company’s constellation.
Elon Musk’s company also hopes to land the Falcon 9 on a droneship stationed in the Pacific, in addition to catching the nose cone’s two fairings in a massive net on a ship known as “Mr. Steven” — a process that’s proven challenging for SpaceX. However, the net has been upgraded to quadruple the size compared to the last attempt.
Adding to the show, Iridium curated a Spotify playlist to go with the launch, with instructions on the exact timing to start it.
Wednesday’s launch is the company’s second in four days. It sent the Telstar 18 Vantage broadband satellite — the world’s heaviest commercial communications device — to space on Sunday.
First published at 4:47 am PST.
Updated at 7:01 am PST: Adds that the Iridium satellites were deployed.
