Iridium-6 & GRACE-FO
Falcon 9 Block 4
SpaceX
Weather Forecast During Launch
According to weather officials, there’s a 90% chance of favorable weather conditions at the time of the launch.
Mission
Iridium-6 & GRACE-FO
- Type: Communications
- Orbit: Low Earth Orbit
- Launch Cost: $50,000,000
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 sixth 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.
Sharing this launch is the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-on mission, which is a joint project of NASA and the German Research Centre for Geosciences. It’s goal is to track Earth’s water movement to monitor changes in underground water storage, the amount of water in large lakes and rivers, soil moisture, ice sheets and glaciers, and sea level caused by the addition of water to the ocean.
Location
Space Launch Complex 4E
Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA
Space Launch Complex 4E has witnessed the launch of 138 rockets, including 138 orbital launch attempts, while Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA, has been the site for 749 rocket launches.
Rocket
SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 4
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.
Landing
Core B1043
Booster B1043 last launched 05/22/2018 and has seen 1 successful launches and landings. Stage Expended
Pacific Ocean – PAC
Pacific Ocean
Expended – EXP
Vehicle did not perform any landing operations after launch
Agency
SpaceX
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 operates from many pads, on the East Coast of the US they operate from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and historic LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center. They also operate from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, usually for polar launches. Another launch site is being developed at Boca Chica, Texas.
