(Image: America Space)

by Chris Tobias

Elon Musk and company are ready to send another Falcon 9 into the black this Wednesday, just days after SpaceX successfully completed the Telstar 19 mission.  This time the action will be on the West Coast.

On July 25, a Falcon 9 of the new Block 5 variant will launch from Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.  The mission is Iridium-7, the latest in a series of what is expected to be a total of eight missions to put 75 Iridium NEXT satellites in orbit.  Once completed, the mission will bring the number of deployed satellites to 65.  Liftoff is scheduled for 7:39 am EDT (11:39 UTC).

The Iridium-7 mission will insert a constellation of 10 new satellites into Low Earth Orbit as part of Iridium Communications ongoing effort to overhaul its communications fleet.  The first stage of this particular Block 5 Falcon 9, which is making its maiden flight, will land on SpaceX’s drone recovery ship Just Read the Instructions in the Pacific Ocean.  The mission will mark SpaceX’s 14th flight of this calendar year.

As usual, live coverage of the launch will be available via SpaceX’s webcast, which should go live approximately 20 minutes before liftoff at spacex.com and on the company’s YouTube channel.

Peace, love and rockets…