SpaceX has static fired its Falcon 9 rocket at Vandenberg Air Force Base SLC-4E ahead of the fifth of eight planned Iridium NEXT launches. The vehicle, which includes the flight-proven booster 1041.2, will lift the fifth batch of 10 Iridium NEXT satellites into a 625 km polar orbit. The static fire test was conducted near the 7 AM local time (14:00 UTC) opening of the test window on March 25. The launch, which will be SpaceX’s sixth mission this year, is expected to lift off at 7:19 AM local time (14:19 UTC) on March 29.
