Iridium-6 & GRACE-FO Mission

Mission patch Iridium-6 & GRACE-FO Patch

Launch Status

Success

Date & Time

22 May 2018, 7:47pm

Pad

Space Launch Complex 4E

Launch Service Provider

Booster

B1043

2nd flight (134d since last use)

Landing

Expended (Pacific Ocean)

Mission

Iridium-6 & GRACE-FO

Mission Type

Communications

Destination

Low Earth Orbit

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will deliver 10 satellites to low Earth orbit for Iridium, a global leader in mobile voice and data satellite communications. This is the sixth set of 10 satellites in a series of 75 total satellites that SpaceX will launch for Iridium’s next generation global satellite constellation, Iridium® NEXT. Sharing this launch is the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-on mission, which is a joint project of NASA and the German Research Centre for Geosciences. It's goal is to track Earth's water movement to monitor changes in underground water storage, the amount of water in large lakes and rivers, soil moisture, ice sheets and glaciers, and sea level caused by the addition of water to the ocean.

Available Replays

Live
Live
Live
Live

Launching U.S./German GRACE-FO (live broadcast)

Updated: Apr 12, 11:28pm UTC

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