SpaceX launches Falcon 9 carrying Spacecom AMOS-17 satellite after explosion destroyed first one in 2016

SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying Spacecom's AMOS-17 communications satellite at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Tuesday. The mission comes nearly three years after a launchpad explosion destroyed a different Israeli communications satellite (Spacecom's AMOS-6) in September 2016.

The satellite from Tuesday's launch, which happened at 7:23 p.m. EDT, will provide increased connectivity across Africa by supporting a "growth in a variety of broadcast, broadband, mobility, and data services," according to a press release.

The satellite was deployed approximately 31 minutes after the launch.

"AMOS-17 will operate in the C, Ku and Ka bands with a digital channelizer to provide fixed high throughput (HTS) C-band coverage to Africa, steerable HTS Ka-band coverage to anywhere from China to Brazil, and extensive Ku-band coverage throughout Africa with additional coverage in Europe, the Middle East, China, and India," SpaceX said in the press release.

Read more: A rocket SpaceX was testing exploded on a launch pad in Florida

No injuries were reported in the 2016 blast, but it did result in "the loss of the vehicle and its payload," the SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted shortly after the incident.

For this launch, SpaceX did not try to land or collect its boosters after the launch, CBS News reported.

SpaceX livestreamed the launch, which began 15 minutes before liftoff.

The mission timeline, provided by the press kit with approximated times, went as follows:

COUNTDOWN Hour/Minute/Second — Event

00:38:00 — SpaceX Launch Director verifies go for propellant load 00:35:00 — RP-1 (rocket grade kerosene) loading underway 00:35:00 — 1st stage LOX (liquid oxygen) loading underway 00:16:00 — 2nd stage LOX loading underway 00:07:00 — Falcon 9 begins engine chill prior to launch 00:01:00 — Command flight computer to begin final prelaunch checks 00:01:00 — Propellant tank pressurization to flight pressure begins 00:00:45 — SpaceX Launch Director verifies go for launch 00:00:03 — Engine controller commands engine ignition sequence to start 00:00:00 — Falcon 9 liftoff

LAUNCH, LANDING, AND SATELLITE DEPLOYMENT Hour/Minute/Second — Event

00:01:04 — Max Q (moment of peak mechanical stress on the rocket) 00:02:45 — 1st stage main engine cutoff (MECO) 00:02:48 — 1st and 2nd stages separate 00:02:56 — 2nd stage engine starts 00:03:36 — Fairing deployment 00:08:09 — 2nd stage engine cutoff (SECO-1) 00:26:24 — 2nd stage engine restarts 00:27:24 — 2nd stage engine cutoff (SECO-2) 00:31:55 — AMOS-17 deployment

Original author: Lauren Frias