Launch of BulgariaSat-1 on the second reused SpaceX Falcon-9 rocket June 23, 2017.
SpaceX has successfully launched the first Bulgarian satellite using SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
"BulgariaSat-1 is the first geostationary communications satellite in Bulgaria's history", SpaceX added. The satellite was designed and built by Space Systems Loral, or SSL.
Following stage separation, the first stage of Falcon 9 successfully landed on SpaceX's East Coast droneship "Of Course I Still Love You", stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
It's the start of SpaceX's most ambitious sequence of launches yet, potentially flying twice within 48 hours from two coasts, and three times in less than two weeks.
This will be SpaceX's second launch of a reused first stage rocket.
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The Falcon 9 rocket for the mission sported redesigned, larger titanium hypersonic grid fins created to withstand the heat of reentry without shielding and help guide the returning booster despite strong winds.
Two days after launching a Falcon 9 rocket from Florida, SpaceX is aiming to do the same from California, putting 10 satellites into low Earth orbit for Iridium's next-generation communications network. As of now, the launch time is 3:10PM ET.
The satellite, with an estimated mass of 4,000 kg, carries a total of 32 Ku-band transponders to provide fixed and broadcast satellite services and has a planned 15-year lifetime. That mission will be conducted with a previously un-used Falcon 9 rocket. The rocket's first stage separated 2.5 minutes after launch and made its way back towards Earth.
The Bulgaria Sat launch will mark the second time SpaceX relaunches a rocket booster, following the March 30 relaunch of a booster from Florida.
The rocket and the new fins worked: the sats are up and the rocket is down on SpaceX's Pacific barge. Six more missions over the next year will get the full satellite constellation into orbit.
Despite having just one satellite this time, the landing was much more hard that it was previously because the satellite had to be pushed to a much higher orbit than before and as a result, this Falcon 9's first stage experienced more heat than any other before it during the reentry.
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