[ad_1]
Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX began the year 2021 by sending a new communications satellite into space for the Turkish nation on Thursday evening.
Turksat 5A is the first of a pair of next-generation transmitter birds that SpaceX will put into orbit. The Falcon 9 elevating it to orbit took off from the Cape Canaveral space station in Florida at 6:15 p.m. PT (9:15 p.m. ET).
Turksat says the new satellite will be able to provide extensive communication capabilities to Turkey, as well as parts of Asia, Europe and Africa.
The Falcon 9 booster used for the mission made its fourth takeoff, flight and topped it off with its fourth landing, this time on the Just Read The Instructions droneship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
The company also hoped to salvage the two halves of the fairing, or nose cone, used in the mission with the help of ships stationed in the area.
It was a relatively routine mission for SpaceX, but it sets the tone for a year that the company hopes to bring in a few dozen more successful launches like this. The next mission is expected to be Transporter 1, which is a carpool launch carrying dozens of smaller satellites into orbit starting next week.
To follow CNET’s 2021 Space Calendar to stay up to date with all the latest space news this year. You can even add it to your own Google Calendar.
[ad_2]
Source link