SpaceX - Iridium NEXT VIII Mission patch.
Jan. 11, 2019
Falcon 9 carrying Iridium NEXT VIII lift off
On Friday, January 11 at 7:31 a.m. PST, 15:31 UTC, SpaceX successfully launched the eighth and final set of satellites in a series of 75 total satellites for Iridium’s next generation global satellite constellation, Iridium NEXT.
IRIDIUM-8 MISSION
Falcon 9’s first stage delivered the second stage to its targeted orbit followed by deployment of all 10 Iridium NEXT satellites approximately 1 hour and 12 minutes after launch.
Following stage separation, the first stage of Falcon 9 successfully landed on SpaceX's “Just Read the Instructions” droneship stationed in the Pacific Ocean. Falcon 9’s first stage for the Iridium-8 mission previously supported the Telstar 18 VANTAGE mission in September 2018.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches 10 satellites (Iridium Next 66-75) for the Iridium next mobile communications fleet.
Iridium NEXT satellite
Iridium will use its new satellite network to provide improved communications services to more than a million customers across a variety of industries, including expanded services for the so-called “Internet of Things”—smart devices that need their own communications network to connect to the internet.
For more information about SpaceX, visit: https://www.spacex.com/
For more information about Iridium NEXT, visit: https://www.iridium.com/network/iridium-next/
Images, Video, Text, Credits: SpaceX/Iridium/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.
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