 "SpaceX launches Merah Putih satellite on one of its most powerful rockets yet")
The latest in a series of SpaceX launches, the geostationary communications satellite Merah Putih took to its orbit onboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral on 7 August. As per a report by Space.com, this is also the first time that SpaceX reuses one of its powerful and new boosters , block 5, in a ‘final upgrade’ to Falcon 9 , making it reusable up to 100 times for launches similar to Merah Putih’s, into orbit. [caption id=“attachment_4910411” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”]  SpaceX Falcon 9 carrying Merah Putih launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Image Courtesy: NASA[/caption] The block 5 is a particularly unique rocket in the **SpaceX arsenal** and one that the company’s founder Elon Musk is counting on to be their first-choice for commercial astronauts flying to the International Space Station. Plans to send humans to space were recently deferred by NASA until next year, and block 5 will be SpaceX’s answer to lower-cost space travel without compromising on reliability. The launch took place on 7 August at 10.48 am, and 32 minutes after which Merah Putih was successfully deployed into a high-orbit above Earth. In case you missed it, here’s the launch as it happened:
The first stage of Merah Putih’s launch was supported by the **Bangabandhu Satellite-1 mission** in May 2018. Named after the red and white colors in the Indonesian flag, Merah Putih will soon be part of commercial telecommunication services provided by PT Telkom to Indonesia and parts of Southeast Asia. Following stage-separation of Falcon 9, SpaceX will attempt to land its booster on its “Of Course I Still Love You” drone-ship, stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
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