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Sunday 08 of December 2024

SpaceX Launches Communication Satellite on 3rd Try 


A Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket carrying a classified satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office lifts off from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Monday, May 1, 2017,photo: AP/John Raoux
A Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket carrying a classified satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office lifts off from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Monday, May 1, 2017,photo: AP/John Raoux
The unmanned Falcon rocket blasted off Wednesday evening from Florida's Kennedy Space Center

CAPE CANAVERAL – SpaceX has launched a communication satellite on the third try.

The unmanned Falcon rocket blasted off Wednesday evening from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center. It successfully hoisted an Intelsat satellite that was going so high that there wasn’t enough leftover fuel to attempt a booster landing. So the first stage fell into the Atlantic, as is still the custom for other rocket companies.

Launch attempts on Saturday and Sunday were foiled by last-second technical issues.


SpaceX is on a rocket roll. This is the private company’s third launch in barely two weeks. A recycled Falcon carried up a satellite from the NASA-leased pad at Kennedy on June 23, followed by the launch of a new rocket two days later from Southern California. Wednesday’s rocket also was new.

MARCIA DUNN