Iridium-3

Mission

Iridium-3

Type: Communications

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will deliver 10 satellites to low Earth orbit for Iridium, a global leader in mobile voice and data satellite communications. This is the third set of 10 satellites in a series of 75 total satellites that SpaceX will launch for Iridium’s next generation global satellite constellation, Iridium® NEXT.

Location

Space Launch Complex 4E

Vandenberg AFB, CA, USA

83 rockets have launched from Vandenberg AFB, CA, USA.

Rocket

Falcon 9 Block 4

Length: 71 meters
Diameter: 3.65 meters
First Launch: December 22, 2015

The Full Thrust variants first stage includes all systems necessary for an operational re-use of stages while the second stage is operated as an expendable rocket stage.

The Falcon 9 Block 4 rocket has been launched a total of 12 times with 12 successful and 0 failed launches.

Landing

The first stage of the Falcon 9 landed on the ASDS, JRTI, stationed of the west coast.

Just Read the Instructions – JRTI

The third ASDS barge, Just Read the Instructions (JRTI) is currently used to recover Falcon 9 boosters in the Altantic Ocean. It used to service launches in the Pacific Ocean for launches from Vandenberg AFB. It was first put to use in January of 2016 to attempt to recover a Falcon 9 first-stage booster from the Jason-3 mission which successfully landed but subsequently fell over and experienced an Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly (RUD).

Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship – ASDS

An autonomous spaceport drone ship (ASDS) is an ocean-going vessel derived from a deck barge, outfitted with station-keeping engines and a large landing platform. Construction of such ships was commissioned by aerospace company SpaceX to allow for recovery of rocket first-stages at sea for high-velocity missions which do not carry enough fuel to return to the launch site after lofting spacecraft onto an orbital trajectory.

Agency

SpaceX

Type: Commercial
Abbreviation: SpX
Administration: CEO: Elon Musk
Founded: 2002
Launchers: Falcon
Spacecraft: Dragon
Country: USA

Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX, is an American aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by entrepreneur Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs and enabling the colonization of Mars. SpaceX has many pads, on the East Coast of the US they own SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral and LC-39A at the Kennedy Space Center for their lower inclination launches. They also own SLC-4E at Vandenberg, California for their high inclination launches. Another site is also being developed at Boca Chica, Texas.