for-all-mankind:
SpaceX prepares for return to flight launch from Vandenberg.
For the first time in over four months, SpaceX is preparing a Falcon 9 rocket for launch. Carrying ten next-generation IridiumNEXT communications satellites into orbit, this is the first Falcon 9 launch since the Amos-6 incident on September 1.
That anomaly - caused when oxygen particles embedded in the wall of a second stage fuel tank ignited - grounded the rocket fleet for the remainder of 2016. The Federal Aviation Administration only accepted SpaceX’s incident report January 6, granting the Iridium launch license the same day.
SpaceX completed a static fire of the Falcon 9 rocket January 5 and attached the payload fairing a week later. The static fire test no longer occurs with the payload attached, protecting it from any unforeseen events like what destroyed Amos-6.
This is the first of seven flights the Iridium company purchased to carry their 81-constellation of communications satellites by 2019. Liftoff is scheduled for Saturday, January 14, at 9:54am PST from SLC-3E at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Eight minutes later, the rocket’s first stage will attempt to land on the droneship Just Read the Instructions. SpaceX has yet to successfully land a barge from one of their west-coast launches.
WATCH LIVE:
For SpaceX’s standard launch broadcast, click here.
For SpaceX’s technical launch broadcast, click here.
See the mission’s press kit here.