Kennedy Space Centre invites visitors to launch of Bangladesh’s first satellite

Kennedy Space Centre invites visitors to launch of Bangladesh’s first satellite

Kennedy Space Centre in the United States has invited visitors to attend the launch of Bangladesh’s first satellite ‘Bangabandhu-1’ into orbit.

Private space flight and technology company SpaceX has fixed the launch date for Bangladesh’s first satellite for Thursday between 4.12pm to 6.22pm local time, Kennedy Space Centre said in a statement.

It said the satellite will be borne by a block 5 version of Falcon-9 rocket and launched into geostationary transfer orbit.

Visitors will be able to watch the launch from both visitor complexes—Apollo/ Saturn V centre which is 3.9 miles away from the launch pad and the main visitor complex which seven miles away from it.

However, one can commute to Apollo/Saturn V centre only by the bus of Kennedy Space Centre.

State Minister for Information Tarana Halim, State Minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak and Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission Chairman Shahjahan Mahmood flew off to Florida to witness the launch of Bangabandhu-1.

However, before he flew off, Mahmood chairman told bdnews24.com that there could be many factors to delay the launch as there have been few postponements earlier.

“At lot depends on, first, weather and then technical issues,” he said.

 “There have been instances that the launch has been aborted even in the last phase of the countdown,” Mahmood said. “It could even be like this 10, 9, 8, 7, 5, abort ...”

SpaceX will be using block 5 version of their Falcon-9 rocket for the first time to launch a satellite. Static fire tests for the rocket have been done on May 4 in Kennedy Space Centre.

The Falcon-9 rocket will be launched into orbit carrying the geostationary communication satellite Bangabandhu-1 that weighs 3,500kg, from the historical launch complex 39-A in Kennedy Space Centre; the one that was used to launch Apollo 11 to its mission to the Moon.

The satellite has been built in Thales Alenia Space Facilities in France and was taken to Cape Canaveral launch pad in a special cargo plane after all the tests and reviews are completed.

The satellite was originally scheduled to be launched on Dec 16 but the devastation from Hurricane Irma last year delayed all the scheduled launches from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Then it was rescheduled to be launched on May 4, but it got postponed to May 7, said Telecommunication and Information Technology Minister Mustafa Jabbar in April.

However, it was deferred again due to bad weather and the launch date has been finalised to be May 10.  

The satellite is expected to save Tk 14 million a year that is currently spent on renting foreign satellites.

The satellite will contain 40 transponders; Bangladesh will use 20 and rent out the rest.