After a tumultuous 2016, SpaceX has finally been granted a reprieve with the successful launch and landing of the Falcon 9 for the Iridium-1 mission on Jan. 14. This is great news for the company, especially after it made sure that everything would go without a hitch by postponing the mission.
SpaceX is rebounding from disaster in September 2016 when its rocket exploded with the payload before the launch of the AMOS-6 mission. The company opted to delay its other scheduled missions in favor of thoroughly investigating the incident to ensure that it would not make the same mistake.
The Falcon 9 launched right on schedule at 9:54:43 a.m. PT from the Space Launch Complex 4E of the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California as the launch team kept track of its status and progress.
Liftoff! https://t.co/tdni53IviI pic.twitter.com/OQP4JVHsqr
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 14, 2017
At about two minutes after liftoff, the Falcon 9 Stages 1 and 2 separated and, while the Stage 2 engine ignited to take the 10 Iridium satellites into orbit, Stage 1 prepared its descent with the help of the installed Grid Fins.
Take a look at the amazing photos below from the Iridium-1 mission shared by SpaceX.
The 10 satellites deployed on Jan. 14 is SpaceX's first of many missions for Iridium, the communications company that aims to assemble its next-generation global satellite constellation Iridium NEXT. It consists of at least 70 communications satellites.
The Falcon 9's Stage 2 structure is actually perfect for the Iridium missions since it can be restarted multiple times to deliver payloads into different orbits. Falcon 9's landing legs successfully deployed as it reached the landing pad on the drone ship "Just Read the Instructions," which was floating on the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of California.
First stage has landed on Just Read the Instructions pic.twitter.com/W0EoLaO4YR — SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 14, 2017
Elon Musk, SpaceX founder, CEO, and CTO, made sure to keep track of both stages, and he announced on Twitter that the mission went well since all the satellites had been deployed safely and the Falcon 9's Stage 1 rocket is stable.
All satellites deployed — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 14, 2017
It was definitely a good day for Musk and SpaceX, and even better news for the next 41 launches already lined up as Falcon 9's future missions, as stated in the company's launch manifest.
If you missed the live stream of the Iridium-1 mission launch, SpaceX uploaded it on YouTube. You can watch the 1.5 hour feature video below:
