CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION — SpaceX kicked off the Memorial Day weekend with a successful launch early Saturday, sending a communications satellite into orbit.
The Falcon 9 rocket, carrying Arabsat’s Badr 8 communications satellite, lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 12:30 a.m.
What You Need To Know
- SpaceX launched a Saudi Arabian telecommunications satellite into orbit at 12:30 a.m. Saturday
- Related: Axiom Space, Build-A-Bear send teddy bear to space
- 🔻Scroll down to watch the launch🔻
Arabsat's Badr 8 satellite will provide TV broadcast and communications services over Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia.
Learn more about NASA’s weather criteria for the Falcon 9 rocket here.
The Falcon 9’s first-stage booster B1062 has a resume of impressive missions:
- GPS III Space Vehicle 04
- GPS III Space Vehicle 05
- Inspiration4
- Ax-1
- Nilesat 301
- OneWeb Launch 17
- Seven Starlink missions
After the first-stage separation, that part of the Falcon 9 rocket returned to Earth and landed on the droneship Just Read the Instructions that was in the Atlantic Ocean.
About the mission
Arabsat is a Saudi Arabian company that operates communications satellites over the Arab region.
In a press release from 2020, it was announced that Arabsat signed a contract with the company Airbus Defense and Space to build the Arabsat Badr-8 satellite, which has been known as Arabsat 7B.
The Arabsat Badr-8 is the first seventh-generation satellites for the company.
“BADR-8, as a 7th Generation satellite, will be based on the-state-of-the-art Airbus Eurostar Neo electric orbit raising platform giving access to a wide range of launchers, covering Europe, Middle East, Africa and central Asia,” the company stated.
Watch the launch
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