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.

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