SpaceX launches satellite-laden rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base

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A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base Tuesday afternoon carrying two sets of satellites that will study climate change and help build a next-generation global communications network.

The rideshare launch for Iridium Communications, NASA and the German Research Centre for Geosciences lifted off at 12:47 p.m. near Lompoc on a previously flown booster.

Hawthorne-based SpaceX did not recover the first-stage. An experimental boat outfitted with a bright yellow net was deployed off the coast of Baja California to try and catch the rockets nose cone fairing, but was unsuccessful.

The ship, named Mr. Steven, “came very close” to catching the fairings, which deployed parachutes and landed in the ocean, principal integration engineer John Insprucker said during a webcast.

The payloads consisted of five communications satellites for Iridium and two GRACE-FO satellites — for Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-on — that will study changes to the Earths ice sheets and sea level rise for NASA and German researchers.

  • A Space-X F9 lifts off on Tuesday afternoon, May 22, 2018, from Vandenberg AFB. The Falcon-9 had a successful deployment of 5 Iridium NEXT satellites and NASA 2 GRACE-FO satellites. (Photo by Gene Blevins for the Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

  • A Space-X F9 lifts off on Tuesday afternoon, May 22, 2018, from Vandenberg AFB. The Falcon-9 had a successful deployment of 5 Iridium NEXT satellites and NASA 2 GRACE-FO satellites. (Photo by Gene Blevins for the Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

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  • A Space-X F9 lifts off on Tuesday afternoon, May 22, 2018, from Vandenberg AFB. The Falcon-9 had a successful deployment of 5 Iridium NEXT satellites and NASA 2 GRACE-FO satellites. (Photo by Gene Blevins for the Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

  • A Space-X F9 lifts off on Tuesday afternoon, May 22, 2018, from Vandenberg AFB. The Falcon-9 had a successful deployment of 5 Iridium NEXT satellites and NASA 2 GRACE-FO satellites. (Photo by Gene Blevins for the Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

  • A Space-X F9 lifts off on Tuesday afternoon, May 22, 2018, from Vandenberg AFB. The Falcon-9 had a successful deployment of 5 Iridium NEXT satellites and NASA 2 GRACE-FO satellites. (Photo by Gene Blevins for the Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

  • A Space-X F9 lifts off on Tuesday afternoon, May 22, 2018, from Vandenberg AFB. The Falcon-9 had a successful deployment of 5 Iridium NEXT satellites and NASA 2 GRACE-FO satellites. (Photo by Gene Blevins for the Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

  • A Space-X F9 lifts off on Tuesday afternoon, May 22, 2018, from Vandenberg AFB. The Falcon-9 had a successful deployment of 5 Iridium NEXT satellites and NASA 2 GRACE-FO satellites. (Photo by Gene Blevins for the Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

  • A Space-X F9 lifts off on Tuesday afternoon, May 22, 2018, from Vandenberg AFB. The Falcon-9 had a successful deployment of 5 Iridium NEXT satellites and NASA 2 GRACE-FO satellites. (Photo by Gene Blevins for the Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

  • A Space-X F9 lifts off on Tuesday afternoon, May 22, 2018, from Vandenberg AFB. The Falcon-9 had a successful deployment of 5 Iridium NEXT satellites and NASA 2 GRACE-FO satellites. (Photo by Gene Blevins for the Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

  • A Space-X F9 lifts off on Tuesday afternoon, May 22, 2018, from Vandenberg AFB. The Falcon-9 had a successful deployment of 5 Iridium NEXT satellites and NASA 2 GRACE-FO satellites. (Photo by Gene Blevins for the Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

  • A Space-X F9 lifts off on Tuesday afternoon, May 22, 2018, from Vandenberg AFB. The Falcon-9 had a successful deployment of 5 Iridium NEXT satellites and NASA 2 GRACE-FO satellites. (Photo by Gene Blevins for the Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

  • A Space-X F9 lifts off on Tuesday afternoon, May 22, 2018, from Vandenberg AFB. The Falcon-9 had a successful deployment of 5 Iridium NEXT satellites and NASA 2 GRACE-FO satellites. (Photo by Gene Blevins for the Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

  • A Space-X F9 lifts off on Tuesday afternoon, May 22, 2018, from Vandenberg AFB. The Falcon-9 had a successful deployment of 5 Iridium NEXT satellites and NASA 2 GRACE-FO satellites. (Photo by Gene Blevins for the Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

  • 5-22-18. Vandenberg AFB, CA. Space-X F9 liftoffs Tuesday afternoon from Vandenberg AFB. The Falcon-9 had a successful deployment of 5 Iridium NEXT satellites and NASA 2 GRACE-FO satellites. The launch happen at 12:46 PM from Vandenberg AFB. photo by Gene Blevins/LA Daily News/SCNG

  • The Space-X F9 goes through its final prep on Monday afternoon, May 21, 2018, at Vandenberg AFB. The Falcon-9 will be caring another round of 5 Iridium NEXT satellites and NASA will have 2 GRACE-FO satellites. (Photo by Gene Blevins for the Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG

  • The Space-X F9 goes through its final prep on Monday afternoon, May 21, 2018, at Vandenberg AFB. The Falcon-9 will be caring another round of 5 Iridium NEXT satellites and NASA will have 2 GRACE-FO satellites. (Photo by Gene Blevins for the Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG

  • The Space-X F9 goes through its final prep on Monday afternoon, May 21, 2018, at Vandenberg AFB. The Falcon-9 will be caring another round of 5 Iridium NEXT satellites and NASA will have 2 GRACE-FO satellites. (Photo by Gene Blevins for the Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG

  • A pair of NASA GRACE-FO satellites are on top of this stack, with five Iridium Next satellites below it before they were all loaded onto a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that is slated for launch Tuesday, May 22, 2018, from Vandenberg Air Force Base in Santa Barbara County. (Photo courtesy of Iridium Communications)

  • The Space-X F9 goes through its final prep on Monday as aerospace photographers get remote cameras ready for the launch. The Falcon-9 will be caring another round of 5 Iridium NEXT satellites and NASA will have 2 GRACE-FO satellites. (Photo by Gene Blevins for the Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG

  • The Space-X F9 goes through its final prep on Monday afternoon, May 21, 2018, at Vandenberg AFB. The Falcon-9 will be caring another round of 5 Iridium NEXT satellites and NASA will have 2 GRACE-FO satellites. (Photo by Gene Blevins for the Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG

  • A Space-X F9 lifts off on Tuesday afternoon, May 22, 2018, from Vandenberg AFB. The Falcon-9 had a successful deployment of 5 Iridium NEXT satellites and NASA 2 GRACE-FO satellites. (Photo by Gene Blevins for the Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

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A few hours before the launch, SpaceX shared a timelapse video on Twitter of the rocket going vertical on Vandenbergs Space Launch Complex 4E.

Falcon 9 and Iridium-6/GRACE-FO went vertical last night ahead of todays launch at 12:47 p.m. PDT, 19:47 UTC from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. https://t.co/wJxwQ9XSKJ pic.twitter.com/jiRT8Cn2wU

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 22, 2018

This was the second of four SpaceX launches planned this year for McLean, Virginia-based Iridium, bringing the number of satellites in its upgraded fleet to 55.

The twin GRACE-FO satellites, which replace a set launched in 2002, were deployed into orbit 11 minutes after the launch. They will fly 220 kilometers apart, studying changes to the Earths water levels by tracking the changing pull of gravity.

About 50 minutes after launch, the Iridium satellites were released one-by-one every 100 seconds, Insprucker said.

The launch was the 10th this year for SpaceX, which has an ambitious schedule of 30 missions in 2018.

The private space company debuted the newest version of its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket, the Block 5, earlier this month. Unlike the booster re-used for todays mission, the Block 5 is designed to be flown 10 times or more, with little refurbishment between launches.

The upgrades are all part of SpaceXs mission to bring down the massive costs of spaceflight through re-usability.

This year, SpaceX will also launch its Dragon crew spacecraft for NASA. Founder Elon Musk shared a photo on Sunday of the capsule in a test chamber.

SpaceX Crew Dragon ship in anechoic chamber for EMI testing before being sent to @NASA Plum Brook vacuum chamber pic.twitter.com/BckUBkroLw

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 21, 2018

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