On Friday, SpaceX did a friend a favor — far above the stratosphere.
The aerospace startup, helmed by Elon Musk, executed yet another rocket launch Friday morning, achieving liftoff from Vandenberg Air Force Base near Santa Barbara, California. The Falcon 9 rocket was en route to orbit to drop off 10 satellites for communications firm Iridium, CNN explained.
The rocket that took flight Friday had actually been used before, Space.com noted, and took flight exactly one year after SpaceX's first successful reused rocket launch. In total, Iridium has commissioned SpaceX to launch 75 of its satellites into orbit, having "bought eight Falcon 9 launches for a total of $536 million," Space.com reported.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Fog off the California coast threatened to inhibit viewing conditions, but the rocket ended up launching cleanly into an early morning sky. Watch the launch below. Kimberly Alters
-
'A symbol of the faceless corporate desire'Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Say farewell to summer at these underrated US lakesThe Week Recommends Have one last blast
-
Truck drivers are questioning the Trump administration's English mandateTalking Points Some have praised the rules, others are concerned they could lead to profiling
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fineSpeed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in IntelSpeed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to ChinaSpeed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with DisneySpeed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B dealSpeed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance mergerSpeed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profitsSpeed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new highSpeed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year
