On June 8 at 21:04 UTC, a SpaceX Falcon 9 launched the Nilesat-301 satellite from SLC-40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Like many communications satellites, Nilesat-301 was bound for Geostationary Transfer Orbit, GTO. Most SpaceX launches these days, such as Dragons and Starlinks, go to low Earth orbit, so it’s nice to see satellites destined for higher orbits. This means the webcasts are longer so we get more live views from the rocket cameras.

Booster 1062 was on its seventh flight and successfully landed on the drone ship Just Read The Instructions, stationed almost 700 kilometers downrange in the Atlantic Ocean. This particular booster previously flew on two GPS III launches, Ax-1, Inspiration 4, and two Starlink missions, according to SpaceX.

After a twenty-minute coast phase, the second stage restarted for a one-minute burn to send the satellite to its geostationary transfer orbit, with an apogee high up at over 35,000 kilometers. A couple of minutes later, Nilesat-301 was released to begin its journey. The satellite will take a few weeks to get to its final orbit, and then it can begin its fifteen-year operational life.

Nilesat-301 is the seventh satellite built for Egyptian company Nilesat Co. Built by Thales Alenia Space, the satellite weighed about four metric tons at launch, but remember, most of that is fuel to get it the rest of the way to geostationary orbit. Nilesat will offer communications and television services throughout all of Africa and part of the Middle East.

More Information

Thales Alenia Space press release

SpaceX press release

Launch video