Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX started 2021 by sending a new communications satellite to space for the country Turkey on Thursday night.
Turksat 5A is the first of several next-generation broadcast birds that will elevate SpaceX to orbit. The Falcon 9 lifts it to an orbit at 18:15 PT (21:15 ET) from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
Turksat says the new satellite will be able to offer extensive communication capabilities to Turkey, as well as parts of Asia, Europe and Africa.
The Falcon 9 charger used for the mission successfully completed its fourth blast, flight and clinched it with its fourth landing above all else, this time on the droneship Just Read The Instructies parked in the Atlantic Ocean.
The company also hoped to repair both halves of the tub, or nose cone, used in the mission with the help of ships stationed in the area.
It was a relatively routine mission for SpaceX, but sets the right tone for a year that the company hopes will bring a few dozen more successful launches like this. The next mission is expected to be Transporter 1, which is an initial launch carrying dozens of smaller satellites to orbit next week.
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