SpaceX rocket set to return to flight

[nitpicker]

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-38613275

SpaceX rocket set to return to flight

By Jonathan Amos
BBC Science Correspondent

14 January 2017

From the section Science & Environment

The American SpaceX rocket company is hoping to resume flights on Saturday. It is preparing to launch a Falcon 9 vehicle from the Vandenberg Air Force Base on the California coast. It would be the first mission undertaken by the company since one of its vehicles exploded on the launch pad in September. The return to operations will see SpaceX start to renew what was the original global handheld satellite phone network, run by Iridium. Lift-off is timed for 09:54 local time (17:54 GMT).

SpaceX had hoped to get its first Falcon of 2017 up and away a week ago, but stormy weather made that impossible. Saturday's forecast looks far more favourable.

September's launch pad mishap was a spectacular reminder of just how unpredictable rockets can be sometimes. A Falcon 9 was about to go through a routine engine ignition test when fire ripped through its upper stage, consuming the vehicle and the Amos-6 telecommunications satellite it was due to carry to orbit. The subsequent investigation pinned the most likely cause of the failure on a design problem in the rocket's helium pressure tanks. But with corrective action SpaceX believes it is now safe to return to service.

On this flight are 10 spacecraft for the Iridium satellite voice and data company. The batch represents the first phase in the roll-out of Iridium's NEXT constellation. A total of 81 satellites have been ordered from the European manufacturer Thales Alenia Space to completely overhaul the original but now ageing network.
(snip)

[Eugene]

1. successful launch and landing

http://www.space.com/35338-spacex-return-to-flight-rocket-launch-landing-success.html