PATRICK AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- SpaceX made history March 30, 2017 with the successful launch of a reused Falcon 9 rocket, marking the first time a commercial company has been able to send a previously-launched rocket into space a second time.
SpaceX launched SES-10 from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 6:27 p.m. EDT. One hour prior to the milestone launch, Citizen Airmen from the 920th Rescue Wing were clearing the box beneath the rocket’s path in an HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter ensuring no mariners were in harm’s way prior to launch.
The reused Falcon 9 rocket delivered SES-10, a commercial communications satellite for SES, to a Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO). SES is a world-leading satellite operator, providing reliable and secure satellite communications solutions across the globe.
The SES-10 mission marks a historic milestone on the road to full and rapid reusability as the world’s first reflight of an orbital class rocket. Falcon 9’s first stage for the SES-10 mission previously supported the successful CRS-8 mission in April 2016.
The 920th Rescue Wing has a 50-year history of saving lives, and the Airmen here have rescued more than 3,000 personnel in peacetime and in combat. They live by the motto, “these things we do that others may live.”
The 920th RQW owns and operates nine HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters and six HC-130P/N King fixed-wing air refueling aircraft used primarily for combat-search-and-rescue missions. For more information about the 920th RQW, log on to the wing’s Web site: www.920rqw.afrc.af.mil or follow them on Facebook or Twitter.