14 DAY TRIAL // Officials at Hawthorne, California-based Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) announce the second successful launch of their Falcon 9 medium-lift delivery system towards a destination in a geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO).
The rocket took off from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40), at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, at 5:05 pm EST (2205 GMT) on Monday, January 6. It successfully injected the THAICOM 6 communications satellite into a GTO measuring 295 by 90,000 kilometers (183 by 55,923 miles).
The spacecraft was built for leading Asian satellite operator THAICOM, and entrusted to SpaceX for delivery to an orbit high above Earth's surface. Though it experienced some glitches that caused several launch delays, the Falcon 9 rocket performed exemplary, and achieved all mission objectives flawlessly.
“Today’s successful launch of the THAICOM 6 satellite marks the eighth successful flight in a row for Falcon 9. SpaceX greatly appreciates THAICOM’s support throughout this campaign and we look forward to a busy launch schedule in 2014,” SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell said yesterday.
The company's manifest currently lists 50 planned launched, of which over half are for commercial customers. The others are reserved for NASA and government partners.