Congratulates SpaceX On Successful Launch

The Commercial Spaceflight Federation congratulates SpaceX for the successful launch of their Falcon 9 v1.1 launch vehicle from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida and for the deployment of the SES-8 telecommunications satellite in its intended geostationary orbit.

This was the seventh consecutive launch of the Falcon 9 family, the second launch of the upgraded Falcon 9 v1.1 rocket, and SpaceX’s first communications satellite payload. SpaceX currently has over 40 missions on manifest representing many of the world’s largest commercial satellite companies, and intends to launch its next commercial satellite, Thaicom 6, later this month. Another U.S. launch provider – United Launch Alliance – has recently been engaged to launch Mexico’s Morelos-3 satellite. These missions herald the return of the commercial launch market to the United States.

“The U.S. launch industry has been increasingly winning launch contracts from American as well as international satellite companies in the last three years,” said CSF President Michael Lopez-Alegria. “The renewed U.S. competitiveness in this multi-billion dollar market will continue to create high-tech jobs at home and will drive down the cost of access to space for technology and research applications all over the world.”

FMI: www.commercialspaceflight.org