Holy moly!!https://www.flickr.com/photos/spacex
My Ops team is really rocking on shaking out our new Iridium NEXT birds. Just hit 1000 testing activities since launch. Going well!
1st launch sat testing showing great progress. Just had first cross-link connectivity between 2 of the new NEXT sats. Moving right along!
XB70manPublished on Jan 15, 2017January 14, 2017, launch viewed 4.1 miles from the pad on Renwick Ave., Lompoc, CA. This was the "Return to Flight" launch and the 1st Iridium-Next launch (10 satellites) into polar orbit. 1st stage successfully landed on a barge in the Pacific Ocean 8m10s after launch. Congrats, SpaceX.
After receiving a 1st signal on Jan. 31, the check-out of the inter-satellite link between 2 #IridiumNEXT satellites is now fully confirmed
Matt Desch @IridiumBoss 2m2 minutes ago Beginning ascent today of our first NEXT satellite to go into its slot in our 780km mission orbit. Earlier than expected - great progress!
SNOC Report: SV109 is now fully integrated into the network replacing legacy SV77 #NEXTevolution #SlotSwap
Our first slot swap this weekend! Two Iridium NEXT sats now operational and testing - making great progress.
As of today, 4 of the 10 @IridiumNEXT sats from 1st launch are in mission. 3 slot swaps so far - 4 more planned for next week! Drifting 2.
Matt Desch @IridiumBoss 5m5 minutes agoAs of 10am edt, all 8 Iridium NEXT sats are happily in mission! SV105/SV108 start their drifts to Plane 5 Sunday. Batch 2 processing soon!
Iridium CorporateVerified account @IridiumComm 4m4 minutes agoBIG day @ the SNOC: 2nd dual slot-swap complete! All 8 first launch #IridiumNEXT SVs are active! 2 begin drift this weekend #NEXTevolution
The 1st #satellites launched for the #IridiumNEXT system have been confirmed to be efficient & performing by @Thales_Alenia_S & @IridiumComm
You never forget your first one... 4 years ago today was Iridium's 1st launch. Exciting, terrified, couldn't sleep. @SpaceX was flawless, as were our 10 new satellites. Each of them have now orbited the earth about 21,000 times, and are working great! Thanks again, @elonmusk!