On July 8, SpaceX launched Turkey’s first domestically produced communications satellite, Turksat 6A, into orbit. At 7:15 p.m. EDT (2330 GMT), a Falcon 9 rocket took off from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
The rocket’s first stage came back to Earth on SpaceX’s Just Read the Instructions drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean about 8.5 minutes after takeoff. This was the 15th time that this rocket successfully took off and landed.
The top stage of the rocket kept sending Turksat 6A into geosynchronous transfer orbit, where it was successfully deployed 35.5 minutes after launch. According to the Hürriyet Daily News, Turkey’s transport and infrastructure minister, Abdulkadir Uraloğlu, said that the satellite will now find its final path and go through about a month of checks before it can be used.
Turksat 6A is Turkey’s first fully homegrown communications satellite. Its goal is to increase the country’s satellite reach and meet its TV broadcasting needs. Uraloğlu highlighted in his speech that Turksat 6A would extend coverage to previously unserved regions, including India, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia, reaching a population of 5 billion people.
