Launches / Falcon 9 Block 5

Past launch Launched successfully

Thuraya 4-NGS

Falcon 9 Block 5, flown by SpaceX

Falcon 9 Block 5 lifting off with the Thuraya 4-NGS mission
Image via The Space Devs.

This was SpaceX's 1st launch of 2025, and its 450th in all.

Counting every operator, it was the first orbital launch attempt anywhere in 2025, and the first from Space Launch Complex 40.

Launched
Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025, 1:27 a.m. UTC
Window
Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025, 1:27 to 5:27 a.m. UTC
Launch site
Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA
Rocket
Falcon 9 Block 5
Operator
SpaceX
Weather
95% favorableLiftoff winds

Watch the webcast →

The mission

Thuraya 4-NGS is a communication satellite being built by Airbus Defense and Space for the UAE based Yahsat. Based on the all-electric Airbus Eurostar-Neo Platform, Thuraya 4-NGS will incorporate a large 12-meter L-band antenna and a payload with on-board processing providing advanced routing flexibility of up to 3200 channels with dynamic power allocation over a large number of spot beams.

Type
Communications
Destination
Geostationary transfer orbit

The rocket

Falcon 9 is a two-stage rocket designed and manufactured by SpaceX for the reliable and safe transport of satellites and the Dragon spacecraft into orbit. The Block 5 variant is the fifth major interval aimed at improving upon the ability for rapid reusability.

Height
70 m
Built by
SpaceX
First flew
May 11, 2018
Lifts to low Earth orbit
22,800 kg
View 5 specifications Show less
Lifts to geostationary transfer
8,300 kg
Diameter
3.7 m
Mass at liftoff
549 t
Thrust at liftoff
7,607 kN
Stages
2

627 flights, 626 of them successful. 612 boosters brought back from 617 attempts.

spacex.com → Wikipedia →

The operator

SpaceX

Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX, is an American aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by entrepreneur Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs and enabling the colonization of Mars. SpaceX operates from many pads, on the East Coast of the US they operate from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and historic LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center. They also operate from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, usually for polar launches. Another launch site is being developed at Boca Chica, Texas.

Sector
Commercial
Based in
USA
Founded
2002
Run by
Elon Musk, CEO

724 launches so far, 709 of them successful. The last 209 in a row went to plan.

spacex.com → Wikipedia →

The launch site

It went up from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA.

See the pad on a map →

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