Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. Space Travel News .




LAUNCH PAD
SpaceX launches AsiaSat8 into orbit via Falcon 9 rocket
by Brooks Hays
Cape Canaveral, Fla. (UPI) Aug 5, 2014


disclaimer: image is for illustration purposes only

SpaceX took a break from launching resupply missions to the International Space Station in order to put a new commercial satellite into orbit.

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, blasting off early Tuesday morning. The rocket carried with it AsiaSat8, a new commercial satellite expected to dramatically boost video and broadband services in Asia and the South Pacific.

Thirty-two minutes into the flight, the Falcon 9 rocket relinquished its satellite companion, and now it's floating 22,300 miles above the equator. It's the first of two AsiaSat satellites SpaceX will launch this month, taking the growing communication company's fleet from four to six. The second will be launched later in August.

"These are growth satellites for us," William Wade, AsiaSat president and CEO, told Florida Today. "They are adding additional capacity in existing, growing markets that will help us to provide additional services to our customers and help that market expand."

Soon, SpaceX's growing satellite-launching business will have a launchpad of its own. The private space company announced this week it would build the world's first commercial launchpad. An $85 million investment from SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is expected to bring more than 300 high-tech jobs to Brownsville, a South Texas border town.

SpaceX choose the small Texas town after Governor Rick Perry dipped into the Texas Enterprise Fund to secure Musk's company $15.3 million in incentives.

"Texas has been on the forefront of our nation's space exploration efforts for decades, so it is fitting that SpaceX has chosen our state as they expand the frontiers of commercial space flight," Perry said in a statement earlier this week.

.


Related Links
Launch Pad at Space-Travel.com






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








LAUNCH PAD
SpaceX releases video of rocket splashing into the ocean
Los Angeles (UPI) Jul 25, 2013
Aerospace company SpaceX has released a video of its attempt to return part of its Falcon 9 rocket to Earth. It's what SpaceX engineers call a "soft landing," though "soft" in this case is a relative term. SpaceX wants to eventually be able to reuse one of the rocket's boosters, from one launch to the next - a shortcut that could end up saving lots of time and money - so engineers hav ... read more


LAUNCH PAD
Russia to Decide on Future of Sea Launch Project by End of 2014

SpaceX launches AsiaSat8 into orbit via Falcon 9 rocket

United Launch Alliance Launches Two Rockets in Just Four Days

AsiaSat 8 Successfully Lifts Off

LAUNCH PAD
Opportunity Heads to 'Marathon Valley'

NASA Mars Curiosity Rover: Two Years and Counting on Red Planet

Robotic Rock Climbers Could Uncover Clues to Mars' Past

Russia To Construct Landing Pad For ExoMars Mission

LAUNCH PAD
China to send orbiter to moon and back

August supermoon will be brightest this year

Manned Moon Mission to Cost Russia $2.8 Bln

Tidal forces gave moon its shape

LAUNCH PAD
ALMA telescope sizes up Pluto's orbit

Putting It All Together

Annual Checkout Makes for Great Pluto Preparation

In exactly one year, NASA's New Horizons probe will reach Pluto

LAUNCH PAD
Rotation of Planets Influences Habitability

Planet-like object may have spent its youth as hot as a star

Young binary star system may form planets with weird and wild orbits

Hubble Finds Three Surprisingly Dry Exoplanets

LAUNCH PAD
'Impossible' engine may actually work, NASA engineers suggest

Federal auditors say NASA doesn't have funds for big rocket

World's Largest Spacecraft Welding Tool Will Build Core Stage of NASA's Space Launch System

Sierra Nevada Contacts All Six On-Orbit ORBCOMM Generation 2 Satellites

LAUNCH PAD
More Tasks for China's Moon Mission

China's Circumlunar Spacecraft Unmasked

China to launch HD observation satellite this year

Lunar rock collisions behind Yutu damage

LAUNCH PAD
Dawn navigates mini-asteroid belt

Rosetta Arrives At Comet 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko

Probe makes space history with rendezvous with comet

Rosetta and Philae: Profile of comet-chasing team




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.