SpaceX
SpaceX's workhorse rocket, the Falcon 9, has had a pretty successful year of launches. With seven flights and seven successful landings under its belt, SpaceX is gearing up for Number 8 with the AMOS-17 mission. SpaceX confirmed Wednesday that the static fire test of the Falcon 9 was complete and data was being assessed, setting the launch for Saturday, Aug. 3.
Static fire test of Falcon 9 complete and team is assessing data—targeting August 3 for launch of AMOS-17 from Pad 40 in Florida
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 1, 2019
However, that date now appears to be in jeopardy, after Elon Musk's spaceflight company announced it would perform a second static fire test after replacing a "suspect valve". An updated launch date was not provided.
Team is setting up an additional static fire test of Falcon 9 after replacing a suspect valve. Will confirm updated target launch date for AMOS-17 once complete.
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 1, 2019
SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
While a successful static fire test isn't considered a huge milestone anymore, it's particularly important in this case because the customer, Spacecom, previously lost a satellite payload on a SpaceX flight in 2016. As a result, this launch will be provided to Spacecom free of charge, after that anomaly during the static fire testing resulted in an explosion of the launch vehicle and Spacecom's AMOS-6 satellite.
The new satellite, known as AMOS-17, will provide telecommunications access across the Middle East, Africa and Europe and will eventually finish up in a geostationary orbit around the EartRead More – Source
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