Succeeding in its mission on Wednesday after its original attempt that was planned for Tuesday had to be scrubbed because of bad weather conditions, SpaceX successfully launched an EchoStar communications satellite into orbit. The launch, which took place at 2 AM ET on Thursday, saw SpaceX succeed in placing the EchoStar XIII 22,000 miles up from the surface of the blue planet.
Interestingly, SpaceX didn’t even attempt to recover the first stage of its rocket for this launch. Considering the company’s practices, which are frugal in the extreme, that was pretty strange. However, it can be attributed to the fact that the EchoStar XXIII payload consisted of a satellite that was significantly heavier than the kind of payloads Falcon 9 rockets are used to taking into space.
The rocket was launched from the LC 39A site at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The same pad was used to launch the Apollo 11 mission that conquered the moon and with his launch, EchoStar became the first commercial client to be serviced by SpaceX at LC 39A.
Meanwhile, this also marks another step along the company’s path to recovery after its commercial flights were brought to a halt due to an explosion that saw a Falcon 9 and an internet.org satellite turn into a fireball while still at the launch pad. The company has been hard at work, attempting to get back on track and start fulfilling the long list of contracts it has.
