SpaceX launches 2 Kazakhstani satellites

ASTANA. KAZINFORM - SpaceX launched Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on 4th December at 12:32 a.m. Astana time. The rocket delivered 64 small satellites including 2 Kazakhstani ones, Kazinform correspondent reports.

The customers of the launch are 34 operators from 17 countries (Australia, Brazil, Finland, Germany, India, Italy, Jordan, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Poland, the Republic of Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, Canada, the UK, and the U.S.).

The Aerospace Committee of the Kazakh Ministry of the Defense and Aerospace Industry earlier informed that Kazakhstan would launch satellites of the scientific and technology-purpose space system created by a joint team of Kazakh (Ghalam LLC) and British (Surrey Satellite Technologies Limited) engineers.

It is a 100-kilogram earth remote sensing satellite having a resolution of 17 meters. The second one is a 5-kg scientific satellite that explores Earth's ionosphere.

The results obtained within the scientific and technology-purpose space system project will reduce the cost of construction of Kazakhstan's future satellites and increase the Kazakhstani content in the manufacturing of space systems for foreign customers, the Aerospace Committee says

The launch of the Falcon 9 rocket carrying 64 tiny satellites was aired live. The observers at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and millions of spectators saw the way Falcon 9 rocket's first-stage booster, used for the third time, landed.