[ad_1]
After a very busy 2020 which saw it achieve a number of achievements, including the launch of the first astronauts into space from American soil since 2011, SpaceX completed its first rocket launch of 2021 on Thursday.
The company led by Elon Musk sent a communications satellite to Turkey into orbit via its Falcon 9 rocket, taking off from Cape Canaveral, Fla. At 9:15 p.m. EST.
Shortly after, SpaceX confirmed that it had successfully deployed the Turksat 5A satellite, which would be used to increase Turkey’s presence in space.
SPACEX LAUNCHES CAP CANAVERAL SIRIUSXM SATELLITE
Later this year, SpaceX will also send the Turksat 5B satellite into space, according to Space.com.
SpaceX, which helped Musk become the richest person in the world, also managed to land the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket on the Just Read The Instructions droneship, which was floating in the Atlantic Ocean. This is the fourth launch of this particular first stage. It had previously been used to send a GPS satellite for the US Space Force and the company’s growing Starlink Internet satellite activity, once in September and then again in October.
SpaceX, based in Hawthorne, Calif., Also intends to recover the two parts of the nose cone.
SPACEX STARSHIP TEST FLIGHT ENDS IN MASSIVE FIREBALL, BUT MUSK SAYS IT WAS ALWAYS A SUCCESS
SpaceX is expected to have a busy schedule in 2021, including testing of its Starship SN9 prototype, which could take place as early as this weekend.
The aerospace company conducted a triple Raptor static fire test of the next-generation space flight system on Wednesday at SpaceX’s facilities in Boca Chica, Texas, which briefly showed all three engines of the test vehicle igniting .
Starship is a fully reusable transport system designed to transport both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the moon, Mars and beyond. The spacecraft is expected to be the world’s most powerful launcher ever developed, with the capacity to carry more than 100 metric tons into Earth orbit.
According to Spaceflightnow.com, SpaceX will launch more than 40 rockets this year, some coming from Florida and the rest from California.
The company’s next mission will be a Transporter-1 mission, scheduled for January 14 from Cape Canaveral.
Originally slated for Dec. 16, this launch will see SpaceX send the Falcon 9 to transport “dozens of small microsatellites and nanosatellites for commercial and government customers,” Spaceflightnow noted.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Lucas Manfredi of FOX Business contributed to this story.
[ad_2]
Source link