SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9v1.2FT Block 5 from Cape Canaveral, USA at 1224 GMT on 18 January. The vehicle was carrying GPS III-6, the sixth satellite of a line of next-generation Global Positioning Satellites for the United States Space Force (USSF). The satellite also has the codename USA 343. It will eventually form part of 32 next-generation satellites and is part of a drive in the US to update its GPS fleet.
The reusable B1077 stage, on its second flight, landed on the drone barge “A Shortfall of Gravitas” in the Atlantic.
Jonathan Freeman contributed to this story.
In a livestream of the launch of its Falcon 9 rocket, SpaceX said the fairing will be recovered from the Atlantic Ocean so that it could be reused in future launches. Courtesy: SpaceX.
