SpaceX has conducted its 51st launch of 2022 with Eutelsat’s Hotbird-13G telecommunication satellite using a flight-proven Falcon 9 to a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO). The Falcon 9 launched from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS).
SpaceX stated that, in order to complete pre-flight checkouts, liftoff was delayed to the end of the 116-minute long window at 1:22 AM EDT (05:22 UTC) on Nov. 3.
Hotbird-13G is the second of three SpaceX flights for Eutelsat planned for 2022, including the previously launched Hotbird-13F satellite and the upcoming Eutelsat-10B mission. Hotbird-13G is SpaceX’s fourth overall mission for Eutelsat.