Iridium-4

Mission

Iridium-4

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 fourth 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 Full Thrust

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 Full Thrust rocket has been launched a total of 25 times with 24 successful and 1 failed launches.

Landing

The first stage of the Falcon 9 landed in the ocean as an experimental test of the Falcon 9’s capabilities.

Atlantic – ATL

The Atlantic ocean on the East coast of the United States is a common landing area for expended boosters.

Ocean – Ocean

Typically indicates a landing in which the booster is not recovered.

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.