Article
Iridium, Aireon, SpaceX celebrate satellite launch, system deployment
2018-07-26
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., at 04:39:30 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) on July 25, 2018 and placed 10 new Iridium NEXT satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO), bringing the total number of Aireon space-based Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) payloads in orbit to 65 as global air traffic surveillance service nears debut and satellite constellation nears completion.