SpaceX - AsiaSat8 Mission patch.
Sept. 7, 2014
Falcon 9 carrying the AsiaSat 8 satellite liftoff
In the early morning hours of Tuesday, August 5th, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral, carrying the AsiaSat 8 satellite for Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company Limited (AsiaSat). The rocket lifted off at 4:00am EDT and delivered AsiaSat 8 to its target 185 x 35786 km geosynchronous transfer orbit at 24.3 degrees.
SpaceX Launch of ASIASAT 8 on SpaceX Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral
At liftoff, Falcon 9 put out 1.3 million pounds of thrust, rising to 1.5 million pounds as the rocket climbed out of Earth’s atmosphere. Approximately 176 seconds into flight, the first and second stages separated. Shortly after, Falcon 9’s second-stage Merlin vacuum engine ignited to begin a five minute, 33 second burn to bring the satellite to a parking orbit. The payload fairing deployed early in this burn.
ASIASAT 8 Telecommunications Satellite
26 minutes into flight, the second stage relit for just over one minute to deliver the payload to its geosynchronous transfer orbit. The payload was deployed into its target orbit successfully approximately 33 minutes into flight. Falcon 9 met 100% of mission objectives.
This marks the eleventh successful flight in a row for Falcon 9, and will be followed shortly by launch of AsiaSat 6 later this month.
For more information about SpaceX, visit: http://www.spacex.com/
Images, Video, Text, Credit: SpaceX.
