SpaceX Falcon 9 Dazzles Delivering ‘Epic’ Intelsat DTH TV Comsat to Orbit for America’s

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – The third time proved to be the charm as SpaceX kept up a torrid 2017 launch pace and successfully ignited another Falcon 9 rocket late Wednesday, July 5, from the Florida Space Coast and delivered a powerful and heavy weight commercial TV to orbit that will serve “tens of millions of customers globally,” Intelsat VP for Sales Kurt Riegel, told Universe Today at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center press site.

The SpaceX Falcon 9 put on a dazzling near dusk display as it roared off historic launch pad 39A on SpaceX’s tenth launch of 2017 Wednesday evening into brilliant blue skies with scarcely a cloud to be seen and delightfully summer weather conditions.

Blastoff of the Falcon 9 carrying the Intelsat 35e communications satellite for commercial high speed broadband provider Intelsat occurred right on time at dinnertime July 5 at 7:38 p.m. EDT, or 2338 UTC from SpaceX’s seaside Launch Complex 39A on NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The thunderous blastoff wowed hordes of spectators gathered along space coast beaches and causeways and local residential neighborhoods from came across the globe to winess and the launcvh spectacle and many of whom will be users of and benefit from the services offered by Intelsat 35e.

“Tens of millions of customers will be served and be touched by Intelsat 35e,” Intelsat VP for Sales & Marketing Kurt Riegel, told Universe Today in an exclusive interview beside the iconic countdown clock at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Florida press site.

Wednesday’s liftoff finally took place safely after back to back last moment scrubs on Sunday and Monday (July 2/3) kept Falcon 9 from igniting its engine for the delayed journey to orbit.

Elon Musk told the SpaceX launch and engineering team to stand down over the 4th of July holiday and instead thoroughly investigate the root cause of the pait of launch aborts.

The near scrubs resulted from insidious anomaly not detected after the initial launch abort on Sunday, July 2.

Intelsat 35e will be utilized by copious public, government and commercial clients throughout the Americas, Europe and Africa.

The Falcon 9 lofted Intelsat’s commercial Epic 35e next-generation high throughput satellite to geostationary transfer orbit.

It separated from the Falcon 9 upper stage as planned about a half hour after liftoff.

“The Intelsat 35e satellite separated from the rocket’s upper stage 32 minutes after launch, at 8:10 pm EDT, and signal acquisition has been confirmed,” Intelsat announced post launch..

“This was the SpaceX’s first satellite launch contracted by Intelsat,” Ken Lee, Intelsat’s senior vice president of space systems, told Universe Today in a prelaunch interview on Sunday.

“Intelsat 35e is the fourth in the series of our ‘Epic’ satellites. It will provide the most advanced digital services ever and a global footprint.”

Intelsat 35e marks the tenth SpaceX launch of 2017 – establishing a new single year launch record for SpaceX.

The recent BulgariaSat-1 and Iridium-2 missions counted as the eighth and ninth SpaceX launches of 2017.

Including those last two ocean platform landings, SpaceX has now successfully recovered 13 boosters; 5 by land and 8 by sea, over the past 18 months.

Watch for Ken’s onsite Intelsat 35e and space mission reports direct from the Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.

Stay tuned here for Ken’s continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news.

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