Skip to main content

Watch SpaceX blast a 5-tonne Intelsat satellite to orbit

SpaceX successfully launched a 5-metric-ton Intelsat communications satellite to orbit on Thursday, August 3.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the satellite blasted off from the launchpad at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 1 a.m. (10 p.m. Wednesday).

Recommended Videos

The mission marked the sixth flight for the first-stage Falcon 9 booster, which previously launched Crew-5, GPS III-6, Inmarsat I6-F2, CRS-28, and one Starlink mission.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

As usual, SpaceX used multiple cameras to live stream the key parts of the flight, including the launch, booster landing, and satellite deployment.

SpaceX’s workhorse Falcon 9 rocket lit up the Florida sky as it left the launchpad in the early hours of Thursday local time.

Liftoff! pic.twitter.com/GVP7zobtv3

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 3, 2023

Around eight minutes after launch, and having done its job, the first stage descended to a droneship waiting in the Atlantic Ocean just off the coast of Florida. The clip below shows the vehicle’s landing legs deploying just prior to reaching the droneship. The booster performed a perfect touchdown, enabling it to be used for another mission once it’s been cleaned up and refurbished. The landing marked SpaceX’s 213th landing of an orbital-class rocket.

Falcon 9’s first stage has landed on the Just Read the Instructions droneship pic.twitter.com/miU7GVqx3q

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 3, 2023

Around 33 minutes after launch, the satellite successfully deployed.

Deployment of @Intelsat Galaxy 37/Horizons 4 confirmed pic.twitter.com/zUnEa6V4WW

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 3, 2023

SpaceX also shared a set of dramatic images showing the start of the mission.

Falcon 9 launches the @Intelsat G-37 mission to orbit from Florida pic.twitter.com/3iayvTMSge

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 3, 2023

The launch of the Maxar-built Galaxy 37/Horizons-4 satellite will provide North American capacity for television media and telecommunication network customers, Intelsat said.

The original plan was to deploy the satellite using an Arianespace Ariane 6 rocket, but continuing delays in the rocket’s production prompted Intelsat to switch to SpaceX to get the job done.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Watch SpaceX’s cinematic look at Starship rocket’s last flight
The Starship launching from Starbase in October 2024.

Starship | Sixth Flight Test

SpaceX has shared a cinematic video (above) of the Starship rocket’s sixth test flight, which took place in November.

Read more
Relive the most beautiful rocket launch of 2024
A Falcon 9 rocket launches from California.

While SpaceX’s Starship megarocket tends to get all the attention these days, the spaceflight company’s trusty Falcon 9 rocket quietly continued its work throughout 2024, performing a record 135 launches over the 12-month period, beating its 2023 record by 38.

Most Falcon 9 launches lift off from Florida's Space Coast, but a growing number of them also get underway from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

Read more
January features two major rocket launches to look out for
The Super Heavy booster's Raptor engines powering the Starship's launch on November 19, 2024.

Last year was a busy one for space missions, and 2025 looks set to be no different.

The continued development of new rockets will feature heavily over the next 12 months. Heading into the new year, SpaceX, for example, is aiming to really ramp up the launch rate of its next-generation Starship rocket.

Read more