Three teams will compete for millions in DARPA’s rocket launch challenge

Despite all of the advancements in space travel, rocket launches are still hindered by the fact that they take months, if not years, to plan and execute. Because that could slow vital military operations, DARPA created the Launch Challenge: a call fo...

SpaceX and Intelsat announce first commercial contract for Falcon Heavy rocket

SpaceX and Intelsat announce first commercial contract for Falcon Heavy rocket

SpaceX hit one pretty big milestone recently -- to put it mildly -- and it's now already back with another fairly significant one. It's announced today that satellite service provider Intelsat has signed the first commercial contract for its Falcon Heavy rocket, which is currently slated to undertake its first launch sometime in 2013. Details on the contract itself remain decidedly light at the moment, but SpaceX will apparently be launching at least one Intelsat satellite into geosynchronous transfer orbit (or GTO) sometime after it's completed its launch tests, and Intelsat says it'll be working closely with SpaceX in the lead up to the launch to ensure that the rocket meets its standards. You can find the official announcement after the break.

Continue reading SpaceX and Intelsat announce first commercial contract for Falcon Heavy rocket

SpaceX and Intelsat announce first commercial contract for Falcon Heavy rocket originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 29 May 2012 18:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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