By Jamie Barrie A ll eyes were on Space Launch Complex 4E at Van- denberg Air Force Base in California as Space Exploration Technologies Corp., better known as SpaceX, prepared to launch its Falcon 9 rocket for the first time since they lost a rocket and all of its payload in a massive explosion in September in Florida. It is what was considered a low point for the company and its re-launch rocket project. Well Elon Musk, investors and spectators alike were not disappointed as SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched on January 14 th to deliver 10 satellites to low- Earth orbit for Iridium, a global leader in mobile voice and data satellite communications. The 10 satellites are the first of at least 70 satellites that SpaceX will be launching for Iridium’s next generation global satellite constellation, Iridium NEXT. The launch was not the only successful part of this mission as the rocket’s reusable first stage also made a successful upright landing on an unmanned drone ship minutes later. “Mission looks good. Started deploying the 10 Iridium satellites,” said Musk, who watched from the control room with Iridium’s chief executive officer, in a Twitter post. “Rocket is stable on the droneship.” Musk later confirmed that all of the satellites had deployed, marking comple- tion of the company’s mission. On February 19th, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched the Dragon spacecraft to low- Earth orbit to deliver critical cargo to the International Space Station for NASA. The Dragon spacecraft was successfully captured by the Space Station on February 23rd. The Dragon space- craft delivered more than 5,000 pounds of supplies and payloads, including critical materials to directly support dozens of the more than 250 science and research inves- tigations that will occur during Expeditions 50 and 51. Dragon will remain for approximately one month at the International Space Station before it begins its return journey to Earth to complete the mission. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will head to the skies again in early March to deliver EchoStar XXIII, a commercial com- munications satellite for EchoStar Corporation, to a Geo- stationary Transfer Orbit (GTO) from the historic Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This mission will be different as SpaceX will not attempt to land Falcon 9’s first stage after launch due to mission requirements. This will be seen as a triple-double in the company and a welcome start to a successful year that has SpaceX pro- jecting to launch 20 to 24 rockets this year, up from the 8 missions that were completed in 2016.
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MARCH 2017 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
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