First satellite launch into orbit by SpaceX
Jul 15th, 2009 by RedPepper
SpaceX successfully launched a Malaysian satellite into orbit late Monday night, the second successful launch for the private space exploration company, which aims to reduce the cost of orbital transport tenfold.
After a series of expensive failures, SpaceX had its first successful launch last September, but that mission carried a dummy payload. Before, on previous disastrous launch, the company lost a Malaysian satellite, the ashes of actor James Doohan and an inexpensive NASA satellite.
The Falcon 1 rocket carried RazakSAT, a small Malaysian satellite built by ATSB, an Asian satellite design firm. The satellite carries a high resolution camera that will be used to monitor natural resources.
RazakSAT was launched from Kwajalein Atoll in the South Pacific, and reached orbit ten minutes later.
Falcon 1, a two-stage, liquid oxygen/rocket-grade kerosene vehicle designed from the ground up by SpaceX, will place the RazakSAT satellite, equipped with a high resolution Medium-Sized Aperture Camera (MAC), into a near equatorial orbit.
RazakSAT was designed and built by ATSB, a pioneer and leader in the design and manufacture of satellites in Malaysia. The satellite is expected to provide high resolution images of Malaysia that can be applied to land management, resource development and conservation, forestry and fish migration.
SpaceX’s Falcon 1 launch site is located approximately 2500 miles southwest of Hawaii on Omelek Island, part of the Reagan Test Site (RTS) at United States Army Kwajalein Atoll (USAKA) in the Central Pacific. Due to the location of the launch site, the Kwajalein local date at the opening of the launch window will be Tuesday, July 14th. – SpaceX
Source: Wired