Iridium-8
Falcon 9 Block 5
SpaceX
Mission
Iridium-8
Type: Communications
Launch Cost: $52,000,000
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 eighth 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.
Trajectory
The trajectory is unavailable. Check back for updates.
Location
Space Launch Complex 4E
Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA
728 rockets have launched from Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA.
Core Landing
The booster will attempt a landing on Just Read the Instructions in the Pacific Ocean.
Just Read the Instructions – JRTI
First (Marmac 300) and third (Marmac 303) ASDS barge, Just Read the Instructions (JRTI) is currently used to recover Falcon 9 and Heavy boosters in the Altantic Ocean.
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 – SpX
- Type: Commercial
- Abbreviation: SpX
- Administration: CEO: Elon Musk
- Founded: 2002
- Launchers: Falcon | Starship
- 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 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.
