Jane Edwards
Iridium Communications CEO Matt Desch has said the company plans to launch on Dec. 30 the final batch of Iridium NEXT satellites aboard a SpaceX-built Falcon 9 rocket, Teslarati reported Thursday.
Desch said in a tweet the Iridium-8 mission will take off aboard Falcon 9’s previously-flown booster from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
He noted the B1049.2 booster would skip a return-to-launch site recovery by trying to land on a SpaceX-made autonomous spaceport drone ship, dubbed Just Read The Instructions, following launch.
The announcement came three months after Iridium launched its seventh batch of NEXT satellites.
