For the second time this month, the Elon Musk led SpaceX launched cargo into space. This time the privately owned company delivered its first satellite into orbit owned and operated by the former Soviet republic of Turkmenistan.
The launch itself was delayed slightly due to thick cloud cover and thunderstorms in the area, but the weather broke long enough for the Falcon 9 rocket to blast off at 7:03 p.m. eastern time.
This launch differed from their most recent launches in that there was no attempt to land the first stage of the rocket. This was due to the fact that the Falcon 9 needed all of its fuel in order to propel the satellite into a proper geosynchronous orbit. The most recent launches have all concluded with an attempt to land the rocket back to Earth as the company explores the possibility of reusing their first stage rockets to reduce costs and speed up the time between launches.
The satellite SpaceX delivered into orbit, officially named TurkmenAlem52E/MonacoSAT, is a 4,500kg communications platform that will give the country its first foothold in space. The satellite will use its 38 active Ku-band transponders to broadcast television and radio communications and provide telephony services to Asia, Africa and Europe.
After the launch, Elon Musk of SpaceX tweeted, "Rocket launch good, satellite in geo transfer orbit. Still so damn intense. Looking forward to it feeling normal one day."
The launch is an important step forward for Turkmenistan. The former Soviet state declared independence in 1991 and has since been ruled by a series of autocratic presidents who have used the country's vast natural gas reserves for their own purposes. Monday's launch is part of an expansion that should give the country telecommunications infrastructure freeing them from depending on either Russia or India. The satellite, which is expected to last for 15 years in orbit, is the first of several planned launches for the country.
Originally, the launch was scheduled for March 21, but it was discovered that there were possible issues with the helium tanks. All of the helium tanks came from the same production line and were failing tests. However, the tanks aboard the Falcon 9 functioned as expected. Still, as a precaution, SpaceX changed the launch date to give time for the pressure system to be inspected.
The launch itself was a success taking approximately 32 minutes to reach 22,000 miles above the Earth.
