SpaceX Falcon 9 successfully launches third set of Iridium-NEXT satellites

SpaceX Falcon 9 successfully launches third set of Iridium-NEXT satellites

(Photo: Iridium)

Ten more satellites for Iridium’s upgraded voice and data communications fleet rode a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket into a nearly 400-mile-high orbit from California’s Central Coast Monday

A few minutes after liftoff, the booster’s first stage made a pinpoint landing on an offshore platform in the Pacific Ocean, adding to SpaceX’s string of successful rocket recoveries for refurbishment and reuse

The 10 French-designed, U.S.-built satellites deployed one-by-one from the Falcon 9’s second stage around an hour after launch. Live video from the launcher showed the spacecraft releasing from a specially-designed carrier module on the upper stage

The Iridium network works through inter-satellite connections that bounce voice and data signals around the globe, allowing a user in one part of the globe to communicate with a person or equipment at sea, in the air, or on another continent without a terrestrial link

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