Falcon 1, carrying the RazakSAT satellite, lifted off on July 13, 2009 at 8:35 p.m. (PDT) / (July 14 2009, at 03:35 UTC). Liftoff occurred from the SpaceX launch site on Omelek Island at the U.S. Army Kwajalein Atoll (USAKA) in the Central Pacific, about 2,500 miles southwest of Hawaii. After the second burn of the second stage engine, Falcon 1 released the RazakSAT Earth Observation satellite into the intended near-equatorial orbit of 685 km, 9 degrees inclination.
Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) announces the successful launch of Falcon 1 Flight 5 launch vehicle and delivery of Malaysia's RazakSAT into the correct orbit.
"This marks another successful launch by the SpaceX team. We are pleased to announce that Malaysia's RazakSAT, aboard Falcon 1, has achieved the intended orbit" - Elon Musk, CEO and CTO of SpaceX.
Falcon 1, a two-stage, liquid oxygen/rocket-grade kerosene vehicle designed and manufactured by SpaceX, lifted off Monday, July 13, at 8:35 pm (PDT). Lift off occurred from the Reagan Test Site (RTS) on Omelek Island at the U.S. Army Kwajalein Atoll (USAKA) in the Pacific Ocean, approximately 2,500 miles southwest of Hawaii. RazakSAT was designed and built by Astronautic Technology (M) Sdn Bhd (ATSB), a pioneer and leader in the design and manufacture of satellites in Malaysia.
"Our ground systems were able to pick up communication from RazakSAT on its first pass. The satellite is communicating as expected and our team will continue to monitor the data closely" - Norhizam Hamzah, Senior Vice President / Chief Technical Officer, Space Systems Division, ATSB. Source SpaceX Pressrelease
RazakSAT, Malaysia's second remote sensing satellite, blasted off into space at 11.35 am Malaysian time from Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean's Marshall Islands. Twenty minutes into launch, the 180kg satellite entered the Near Equatorial Orbit (NEqO) to become the world's first remote sensing satellite launched into the NEqO, the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation said in a statement here Tuesday. The launch at Omelek Island using Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX)'s launcher Falcon 1 went smoothly after a four hour delay due to the need to fulfil some technical requirements. The ministry said that one-and-a-half hours into the launch, initial contact was established by the National Space Agency at Sungei Lang in Banting with Razaksat.