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A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches the Telstar 19V communications satellite at the Cape Canaveral Air Station on July 22, 2018.
Credit: SpaceX [19659004] The latest version of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket flew for the second time today (July 22), illuminating the sky of Florida's space coast in a dazzling launch before the launch. ;dawn.
The "Block 5" variant of the Falcon 9 two-stage took off from the Cape Canaveral Air Station at 1:50 am EDT (0550 GMT), and successfully launched a satellite for the communications company Canadian Telesat.
And the action did not stop there. Less than 9 minutes after launch, the first stage of the rocket descended to Earth, landing on the SpaceX drone "Of Course I Still Love You" a few hundred kilometers from the coast of Florida. [In Photos: SpaceX’s Double Rocket Launches and Landings of October 2017]
The 19V Telstar satellite deploys into orbit from the second stage of a rocket SpaceX Falcon 9 July 22, 2018. Credit: SpaceX
Block 5 is the newest, most powerful and most reusable version of the Falcon 9. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said the first Block 5 stages are designed to fly at least 10 times inspections between landing and taking off, and 100 times or more with a refit involved.
Such an important reuse is the key to Musk's quest to reduce the cost of spaceflight, making the colonization of Mars and other daring efforts economically feasible. To date, SpaceX has managed to land more than two dozen Falcon 9s and has relaunched boosters ashore more than a dozen times.
This morning's takeoff was the first of this first step. The only other previous flight in Block 5, last May, also involved a brand new rocket.
The satellite launched this morning, called Telstar 19V, is heading towards the geostationary orbit, about 22,000 miles (35,800 kilometers) above the Earth. Telstar 19V, which was built by the California-based company SSL, will provide broadband service to customers in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, according to a Telesat information sheet.
The launch of SpaceX and Falcon 9. Block 5 vehicles are to launch communications satellites for the companies Iridium and Telkom Indonesia respectively on July 25 and August 2.
The July 25 mission will involve an attempt to catch the payload fairing of the Falcon 9 – the protective nose cone that covers the satellites during takeoff – with SpaceX's super-fast ship "Mr. Steven ", according to media reports. SpaceX recently fitted Mr. Steven with a much larger net, to give the ship a better chance of removing his first mid-air hitch.
Block 5 is the last variant of the Falcon 9 produced by SpaceX, said Musk. The company finally plans to transfer all its space responsibilities to its rocket-spatialization duo. BFR Mars-colonization in development
Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+ . Follow us @Spacedotcom Facebook or Google+ . Originally published on Space.com .
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