SpaceX launches Bulgarian satellite on reused first stage

Washington, June 24 ( IANS) A SpaceX Falcon 9 successfully launched a Bulgarian communications satellite, a mission that marked the second time the company reused the rockets first stage.

The Falcon 9 carrying BulgariaSat-1 lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center on Friday, SpaceNews reported. The spacecraft separated from the Falcon 9's second stage 35 minutes after lift-off.

The first stage landed on a SpaceX drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean after what SpaceX cautioned would be a "super challenging" landing attempt due to the high reentry loads for this particular flight profile.

Video from the drone ship cut out shortly before the landing, but was restored several seconds later, showing the stage upright, but leaning slightly, having landed slightly off-center.

"Rocket is extra toasty and hit the deck hard (used almost all of the emergency crush core), but otherwise good," SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk tweeted shortly after the landing.

He had tweeted prior to the launch that, because of the high reentry loads, there was a "good chance (the rocket booster doesn't make it back".

This launch marked the second time that SpaceX has reflown a Falcon 9 first stage, after the March launch of the SES-10 satellite.

The first stage for this launch first flew in January on a launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, carrying 10 Iridium Next satellites into orbit before landing on a ship offshore.

BulgariaSat selected SSL to build BulgariaSat-1 in September 2014, a deal that also included the SpaceX launch.

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.

--IANS

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