Elon Musk rocket launches Saudi Arabsat satellite

SpaceX attempted to land Falcon Heavy’s side boosters at Landing Zones 1 and 2 and Falcon Heavy’s center core on the Of Course I Still Love You droneship during the Arabsat-6A mission. (Twitter/@SpaceX)

SpaceX attempted to land Falcon Heavy’s side boosters at Landing Zones 1 and 2 and Falcon Heavy’s center core on the Of Course I Still Love You droneship during the Arabsat-6A mission. (Supplied)

• Falcon Heavy launched the Arabsat-6A satellite from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida

LONDON: Elon Musk’s SpaceX has launched its Falcon Heavy rocket carrying a satellite for Saudi Arabia’s Arabsat.
The huge rocket was launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Station in Florida for Arabsat.
Arabsat CEO Khaled bin Ahmed Balkheyour said it was “a momentous leap in the field of commercial satellites manufacturing and launching.”

Falcon Heavy’s side boosters land on Landing Zones 1 and 2 pic.twitter.com/nJCCaVHOeo

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 12, 2019

Arabsat 6A Satellite is a high-capacity telecommunications satellite that will deliver television, radio, Internet, and mobile communications to customers in the Middle East, Africa, and Europe.
Built by Lockheed Martin, it is the largest and most powerful commercial satellite the US defense giant has ever produced.

 

Liftoff of Falcon Heavy pic.twitter.com/3oALJPOMBa

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 12, 2019

Balkheyour praised the work of young Arab engineers in Riyadh and Tunisia who worked on the project.
“Those young engineers who were fully involved in the design of these satellites and the supervision of the manufacturing stages, we owe them all thanks and praise ” he said.