Rocket Liftoff the MTG-S1 Mission to GEO July 1 at 5:04 p.m. ET.
Liftoff Video of the MTG-S1 by VideoFromSpace
SpaceX Launches MTG S1 Satellite
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which was launched today, carried an advanced European weather satellite and a deployable booster, which landed in the ocean.
Falcon 9 lifted off from the historic Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, which was launched (July 1) at 5:04 p.m. EST (2104 GMT), carrying the MTG sounder (MTG-S1) satellite, which was transferred to its geostationary orbit.
The first stage rocket, which returned to Earth as planned, touched down 8.5 minutes later and landed on SpaceX’s drone ship, which landed on its station in the Atlantic Ocean.
This particular Booster was the ninth launch or landing (designated B1085), according to the SpaceX mission description. This Booster’s previous flight, which was Frame 2, a private astronaut mission, was its first Crew-9 flight for the International Space Station and was launched on January 1, 2025, carrying two private landers to the moon.
The Falcon 9 upper stage, which deployed MTG-S1 35 minutes after lift-off, was planned. The satellite will now take its path toward geostationary orbit (GEO), which is 22,236 miles (35,786 kilometers) above Earth.
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The orbital speed at this altitude would match the Earth’s rotational speed, which means the satellite would move continuously along with the patch of land there. For this reason, GEO is a popular destination for weather satellites and spacecraft.
MTG-S1 is the second MeteorSat of the third generation (MTG) satellites that took flight. The first one before this was MTG-I (MTG Imager), which was launched on an Ariane 5 rocket in December 2022.
