Space
10:18, 24-Dec-2018
SpaceX's first U.S. national security space mission finally takes off
Updated
09:28, 27-Dec-2018
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01:17
A SpaceX rocket carrying a U.S. military navigation satellite finally blasted off from Florida's Cape Canaveral on Sunday after an almost one-week delay, marking the space transportation company's first national security space mission for the United States.
The Falcon 9 rocket carrying a roughly 500-million-U.S.-dollar GPS satellite built by Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 8:51 a.m. local time (1351 GMT).
Four previous scheduled launches in the last week, including one on Saturday, were canceled due to weather and technical issues.
The launch sent the satellite into space to join the Air Force's constellation of 31 operational GPS satellites.
It promises "three times better accuracy," and an extended, 15-year operational life, said a SpaceX statement.
SpaceX sued the U.S. Air Force in 2014 over the military's award of a multibillion-dollar, non-compete contract for 36 rocket launches to United Launch Alliance, a partnership of Boeing and Lockheed. It dropped the lawsuit in 2015 after the Air Force agreed to open up the competition.
The company won an 83-million-U.S.-dollar Air Force contract to launch the GPS III satellite, which will have a lifespan of 15 years.
The next GPS III satellite is due to launch in mid-2019, according to Lockheed spokesman Chip Eschenfelder, while subsequent satellites undergo testing in the company's Colorado processing facility.
Source(s): Reuters