SpaceX Launches BlueWalker 3 Communications Satellite Written 12 September 2022
SpaceX launches 34 Starlink satellites and AST SpaceMobile’s BlueWalker 3 satellite to orbit from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Saturday, 10 Sept. 2022 at 9:20 p.m. EDT | Credit: SpaceX; YouTube; framegrab
SPACE reported that SpaceX “launched a novel – and colossal – commercial communications satellite into orbit late Saturday and set a new launch record for its Falcon 9 rocket at the same time.” The Falcon 9 “launched into orbit from Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida carrying 34 of SpaceX’s Starlink internet satellites and BlueWalker 3, a prototype satellite built by AST SpaceMobile that’s billed as the largest commercial communications array ever flown in space.” The BlueWalker 3 satellite “is the largest commercial antenna array launched into space. Its mission: to test new technology designed to provide global cellular phone service directly to users from space. The goal is to fill in coverage gaps and provide seamless high-speed phone and data service in underserved areas.”
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SpaceX launches 34 Starlink satellites and AST SpaceMobile’s BlueWalker 3 satellite to orbit from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Saturday, 10 Sept. 2022 at 9:20 p.m. EDT.
(SpaceX; YouTube)