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SpaceX launched its first Block 5 Falcon 9 rocket in Florida in May 2018 as part of the Bangabandhu Satellite-1 mission
Source: SpaceX / Flickr
SpaceX will launch a powerful Telstar communications satellite early Sunday morning (July 22), testing for the second time the new Block 5 version of the Falcon 9 rocket. "The launch is scheduled for next Sunday between the 1st and the 7th. 1: 50h and 5:50 EDT (5: 50-9: 50 GMT) from Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Station in Florida, and watch it live here on Space.com, courtesy of SpaceX. Action Directly on SpaceX Site
SpaceX successfully completed a two-stage Falcon 9 test on Wednesday, July 18th, pulling the nine first-floor Merlin engines to full power to test them before lowering the rocket to attach the payload of the satellite, according to SpaceflightNow.
https://t.co/E3VH5szIEzhttps://t.co/5LsXYfGIXI
– Eion Musk (@eIoncmusik) July 19, 2018
The Telstar 19V satellite, from Canadian Telesat, will be in a high geostationary orbit rotating in orbit at the same rate as the Earth, so it will hover over a point – and provide broadband access across the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, according to Telesat. After the Falcon 9 lofts the satellite in space, the first stage of the rocket will return to Earth for a landing on the drone ship SpaceX Of Course I Still Love You.
This launch marks the second SpaceX launch of the company's new Block 5 Falcon 9, launched on May 11 with Bangladesh's first communications satellite in orbit, and the first stage of which has been retrieved for badysis. This launch will use a brand new Block 5, although the first stages of the rockets are designed to last 10 or more flights without any reconditioning. In fact, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said it could last 100 refurbished launches.
Block 5 also increased thrust over the previous version and is designed to meet the requirements of NASA's commercial crew. Although additional minor changes can be made, Musk said Block 5 will be the final version of Falcon 9, freeing SpaceX to work on more recent rocket designs, such as the potentially BFR related to Mars.
July 20), the weather forecast for 45th Air Wing Space Squadron Patrick showed a 60% probability of acceptable launch time; potential problem points are thick clouds. If SpaceX is unable to make the launch window, the backup will be the next night.
This launch will be the first of a busy series for SpaceX, though release dates are met. The company will launch 10 satellites for the Iridium Next mobile communications fleet on July 25 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Then, on August 2nd, the company will launch a communication satellite for Telkom Indonesia from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Email Sarah Lewin at [email protected] or follow her @SarahExplains . Follow us on @Spacedotcom Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
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