SpaceX launched a telecommunications satellite into orbit and landed a rocket on a ship at sea early Thursday (November 3).
THE Sahin 9 A rocket carrying Eutelsat’s Hotbird 13G satellite lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Space Force Station Thursday at 1:22 a.m. EDT (0522 GMT).
The Falcon 9’s first stage returned to Earth just under nine minutes later and touched down as planned with SpaceX’s Read Instructions drone stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
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This was the seventh launch and landing for this particular first stage.
“The Falcon 9 first stage booster supports the previously launched CRS-22, Crew-3, Turksat 5B, Crew-4, CRS-25 and one Starlink mission.” SpaceX wrote in the mission description before the launch (opens in new tab). (Crew-3 and Crew-4 were astronaut missions International Space Stationand CRS-22 and CRS-25 were uncrewed cargo flights to the orbital laboratory.)
Meanwhile, Hotbird 13G continued to fly atop the Falcon 9 upper stage, placing the satellite into a geosynchronous transfer orbit on schedule about 36 minutes after liftoff.
The Hotbird 13G was developed by Airbus Defense and Space and will be operated by a French-based telecommunications company. eutelsat. The satellite will eventually set up shop in geostationary orbit, about 22,300 miles (35,900 kilometers) above our planet.
Hotbird 13G will join its twin Hotbird 13F, which launched into space real estate aboard Falcon 9 last month. The two spacecraft will replace the three existing Hotbird satellites, carrying enough responsibility.
The Hotbird satellite family “forms one of Europe’s largest broadcast systems, delivering 1,000 TV channels to more than 160 million TV homes in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East”. Eutelsat representatives wrote (opens in new tab).
The Hotbird 13G launch was SpaceX’s second in about two days from Florida’s Space Coast. Elon Musk’s company on Tuesday (November 1). USSF-44 launched its mission For the US Space Force from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
USSF-44 a Falcon Heavy rocket, the most powerful shooter flying today. The mission was the fourth for the Falcon Heavy and the first since June 2019.
Editor’s note: This story was updated on Nov. 2 EDT. With news of 3 successful launches, rocket landings and satellite deployments.
Mike Wall is the author of “there (opens in new tab)” (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Carl Tate), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter. @michaeldwall (opens in new tab). follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or Facebook (opens in new tab).
