SpaceX Launches Satellites From Foggy Vandenberg Air Force Base
LOS ANGELES (AP) — SpaceX went for a weekend double-header with a launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, just two days after a successful satellite launch from Florida.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket listed off from a foggy Vendenberg at 1:25 p.m,, carrying 10 more satellites for Iridium Communications, which is replacing its entire constellation with next-generation satellites.
On Friday, a Falcon 9 launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, carried a communications satellite for Bulgaria into orbit.
That launch re-used a Falcon 9 first stage that originally flew in January and was recovered after launching from Vandenberg with the first batch of Iridium next-generation satellites.
Iridium plans to launch a total of 75 new satellites for its mobile voice and data communications system by mid-2018.
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