Anna Forrester
A spokesperson for SpaceX customer Iridium Communications said the explosion Sunday of the Falcon 9 rocket bound for the International Space Station will have little impact on Iridium’s plans for its own payloads, Reuters reported Monday.
“It isn’t critical that they make the exact dates — there is some flexibility in our overall launch plans,” Iridium spokeswoman Diane Hockenberry told Reuters.
Irene Klotz writes that SpaceX has almost 50 launches lined up in its schedule for a total value of $7 billion.
Iridium, in particular, has contracted seven launches with SpaceX, the report said.
Klotz reports that SpaceX is investigating the potential cause of Sunday’s incident, which preliminary analysis indicates could be the second-stage motor liquid oxygen tank.
