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Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX, is an American aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by entrepreneur Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs and enabling the colonization of Mars. SpaceX operates from many pads, on the East Coast of the US they operate from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and historic LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center. They also operate from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, usually for polar launches. Another launch site is being developed at Boca Chica, Texas.
Note: Name of payload is provisional. First launch of an ultimately 5 reconnaissance satellites for the South Korean Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), with 1 satellite featuring an electro-optical infrared (EO/IR) telescope. The other 4 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites are to be launched at a later date. They will be launched to low Earth orbit between 600 and 700 km by 2025, enabling South Korea’s military to observe the nuclear-armed neighbor’s key military facilities every two hours with 30-50 centimeters resolution imagery, according to a 2019 report produced by the Korea Institute of S&T Evaluation and Planning. The project is lead by the Korean Agency for Defense Development (ADD) and Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), with input from Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), Hanwha Systems and Thales Alenia Space. ESA's EIRSAT-1 is also onboard as a rideshare passenger. This 2U cubesat carries three experiments, including a novel gamma ray detector to study some of the most luminous explosions in the universe.
Height 70.00 Meters
Max Stages 2
Mass To GTO 8300 kg
Liftoff Thrust 7607 kN
Diameter 3.65 Meters
Mass To LEO 22800 kg
Liftoff Mass 549 Tonnes
Launch Success 342
Consecutive Success 45
Maiden Flight 2018-05-11
Launch Failures 1
Serial B1061
Status expended
Flight Proven Yes
Flights 23
Landing Attempt Yes
Landing Success Yes
Type RTLS
Location LZ-4
Cosmic_Penguin
2023-12-02T06:43:59+0000
Launch success.
Nosu
2023-12-01T18:19:58+0000
Liftoff
LL2
2023-12-01T17:46:08+0000
Livestream has started
SwGustav
2023-11-30T23:49:49+0000
Adjusting T-0 and setting GO
Nosu
2023-11-29T21:44:53+0000
Adjusting T-0
Nosu
2023-11-28T12:21:32+0000
Delayed to December 1
Cosmic_Penguin
2023-11-24T16:58:24+0000
Updated launch window.
Nosu
2023-11-24T16:37:47+0000
Adding approximate launch time
Cosmic_Penguin
2023-11-03T23:31:12+0000
Added launch (payload details at https://spacenews.com/south-korea-hires-spacex-to-launch-five-spy-satellites-by-2025/).
2023-11-29T19:15:58+0000
NASASpaceflight