SpaceX

Iridium-6 & GRACE-FO

Falcon 9 Block 4

SUCCESS
Success

Tuesday, May 22, 2018 · 19:47 UTC

Mission

/01

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will deliver 10 satellites to low Earth orbit for Iridium, a global leader in mobile voice and data satellite communications. This is the sixth set of 10 satellites in a series of 75 total satellites that SpaceX will launch for Iridium’s next generation global satellite constellation, Iridium® NEXT. Sharing this launch is the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-on mission, which is a joint project of NASA and the German Research Centre for Geosciences. It's goal is to track Earth's water movement to monitor changes in underground water storage, the amount of water in large lakes and rivers, soil moisture, ice sheets and glaciers, and sea level caused by the addition of water to the ocean.

Mission Type

Communications

Orbit

Low Earth Orbit (LEO)

Probability

90%

Status

Launch Successful

Vehicle & Pad

/02

Rocket

Falcon 9 Block 4

Variant: Block 4

Launch Pad

Space Launch Complex 4E

Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

34.632° N, 120.611° W

78

Pad Launches

679

Location Launches

62

Agency Launches

47

Orbital This Year

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