EUTELSAT 117 West B/ABS-2A (Falcon 9) 15 June 2016 |
Space Launch Complex 40 Cape Canaveral Air Force Station |
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches two commercial telecommunications satellites, EUTELSAT 117 West B and ABS-2A respectively, on 15 June 2016 at 10:29 a.m. from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Both satellites are second new-generation, all-electric propulsion satellites built by Boeing Satellite Systems. EUTELSAT 117 West B will provide video and other services throughout Latin America. ABS-2A will provide telecommunications services throughout Africa, Russia, the Middle East, South Asia, and South East Asia regions. The experimental attempt to land the first stage booster on a barge positioned about 420 miles east of Cape Canaveral failed when one of the landing engines misfired causing the rocket stage to crash hard into the barge. |
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A hot Florida morning makes the images of the rocket look like they were taken underwater. This is caused by the heated land roiling the atmosphere above causing a distorting effect that slowly diminishes as the rocket rises through the atmosphere into cooler air above. | |
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