Derek Richardson

June 8th, 2017

Falcon 9 core 1029 arrives at SpaceXs horizontal integration hangar just outside Kennedy Space Centers Launch Complex 39A to be integrated with the second stage in advance of the BulgariaSat-1 mission. Photo Credit: SpaceX

Keeping up with its current launch pace of once every two weeks or so, SpaceX announced it was targeting June 17, 2017, for the launch of BulgariaSat-1. Liftoff is slated for the beginning of a two-hour window opening at 2:20 p.m. EDT (18:10 GMT) at Kennedy Space Centers Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) in Florida.

This will be the second time the Hawthorn, California-based company will utilize a flight-proven Falcon 9 to send a satellite into orbit. The first was in April 2017 with the launch of SES-10.The first stage that will be used for the BulgariaSat-1 mission, core 1029, first flew on Jan. 14, 2017, during the Iridium-1 mission to send 10 Iridium NEXT satellites to space.

SpaceX, if it launches BulgariaSat-1 on time, will only barely miss its record turnaround time for a launch pad, which is currently set at 13 days, 2 hours, 49 minutes between the TurkmenSat-1 and CRS-6 missions in 2015, which both used Space Launch Complex 40 in nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The next mission will miss the record by just under 20 hours.

The June 17 mission will see the first geostationary communications satellite owned by a Bulgarian company, Bulsatcom, sent into space. The 8,800 pound (4,000 kilogram) satellite was built by SSL on its SSL 1300 satellite platform. It will provide high-definition television broadcasts and fixed satellite services to the Balkans, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa from a geostationary orbital slot of 2 degrees East.

The Falcon 9 will send BulgariaSat-1 into a geostationary transfer orbit where thesatellitesonboard propulsion will finish the job of circularizing its orbit.

Once the first stage finishes its job, some two minutes into flight, it will likely place itself on a trajectory to land on SpaceXs Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship Of Course I Still Love You downrange in the Atlantic Ocean. It will then be towed back to Port Canaveral several days later for potential refurbishment and reuse.

Tagged: bulgariasat-1 Bulsatcom Core 1029 Falcon 9 Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A Lead Stories SpaceX

Derek Richardson has a degree in mass media, with an emphasis in contemporary journalism, from Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas. While at Washburn, he was the managing editor of the student run newspaper, the Washburn Review. He also has a blog about the International Space Station, called Orbital Velocity. He met with members of the SpaceFlight Insider team during the flight of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 551 rocket with the MUOS-4 satellite. Richardson joined our team shortly thereafter. His passion for space ignited when he watched Space Shuttle Discovery launch into space Oct. 29, 1998. Today, this fervor has accelerated toward orbit and shows no signs of slowing down. After dabbling in math and engineering courses in college, he soon realized his true calling was communicating to others about space. Since joining SpaceFlight Insider in 2015, Richardson has worked to increase the quality of our content, eventually becoming our managing editor.

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'Flight-proven' Falcon 9 to launch BulgariaSat-1 June 17 - SpaceFlight Insider