It was an eagerly awaited launch both SpaceX,
It was an eagerly awaited launch both SpaceX, the company that built the rocket, because it marked the return to space after the explosion of September, both from Iridium, the company that is giving rise to a new constellation of satellites. It has been the 28th successful launch of the SpaceX rocket.

Succefully launched Falcon 9 rocket from the Vandenberg base, on the California coast of the United States. It is the redemption of SpaceX after the explosion of a similar rocket occurred last September: an accident caused by a problem that had never occurred before and that SpaceX sustains to have solved. The aim of this launch is to launch into orbit 10 Iridium satellites (built by Thales Alenia Space, French-Italian company) that will replace obsolete ones. The departure took place at 9:54 local time Saturday, January 14. The launch was to take place last week, but the adverse weather conditions had delayed the departure. Success also for the return of the first stage of the rocket that landed successfully on a floating platform in the Pacific Ocean. SpaceX aims to reuse the expensive “early stages” of the rockets, a system that will reduce costs by 30% launches. After that last stage has arrived in orbit, 59 minutes and 16 seconds from the start, the satellites, weighing 860 kg each, they came off at intervals of 90 seconds. A complex operation that has had few precedents in the history of astronautics.

A CONSTELLATION OF 70 SATELLITES. Iridium is a company which became famous because it was the first to create a total coverage of our planet with satellites capable of transmitting voice and data with a fast connection and it was mainly used to transmit information of ocean buoys, mining equipment and pipelines from places extremely difficult to reach. The new satellites launched by Falcon 9 are much more sophisticated than the previous ones and also allow to ships and planes to communicate its position from any part in the globe. After these first 10 satellites will be launched other 60 to establish a network that can completely cover our planet. The satellites are located at an altitude of 780 km above the Earth’s surface.