Tag: January 15

Space Force Launches GPS III SV06 Aboard SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket

Inside Defense reports that the “Space Force successfully launched another Global Positioning System III-series satellite from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, FL, the morning of Jan. 18 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.” The GPS III satellites, manufactured by Lockheed Martin, “provide up to three times greater accuracy and an eightfold increase in anti-jamming capabilities compared to earlier systems, Space Systems Command said in a press release.” In the release, Program Executive Officer for Military Communications & PNT Directorate Cordell DeLaPena Jr. said, “With the GPS III SV06 launch, GPS has accomplished another step towards Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT)’s overall mission of modernizing capabilities for our civilians and military users while maintaining the performance and resiliency of our existing architecture.
Full Story (Inside Defense)

 
 
 

 Video

A SpaceX Falcon 9 launches the GPS III Space Vehicle 06 mission January 18^th at 7:24 a.m. ET
(SpaceX; YouTube)

SpaceX Falcon Heavy Launches Classified Mission for US Space Force

Fox Business reports SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket “lifted off for the first time this year on Sunday” at 5:56 p.m. ET, from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission, called USSF-67, delivered “a classified military payload to orbit for the United States Space Force.”  Approximately eight minutes after launch, the rocket’s “two side boosters disconnected and landed simultaneously at Cape Canaveral’s Landing Zones 1 and 2,” marking “the 163rd and 164th successful landings of an orbital-class rocket.” The mission also marked the fifth successful flight for SpaceX’s powerful Falcon Heavy rocket.
Full Story (Fox Business)
 
 
 

 

 Video

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy launches from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Sunday, January 15, at 5:56 p.m. EST
(SpaceX; YouTube)