SpaceX launch this morning with video of Iridium satellite deployment.

Everytime I see a successful launch by SpaceX, I feel more confident about mankind reaching its goals of outer space. I feel we've successfully launched more aircraft safely into space and landed them in the past 3 years, than the past 30 years combined.

#SpaceGoals

I hope to take my son to watch a launch in the near future.

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I hope to take my son to watch a launch in the near future.

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In my youth my family just so happened to be in Orlando during a night shuttle launch. My dad, grandpa, Uncle, and I drove to the Cape two nights in a row and the launch was scrubbed both times. It was still cool looking at the shuttle sitting on the pad in person at night.

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Will the new iridiums have the same flare effects?

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Good question. I'll try to look into it this weekend .

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All the old iridiums were supposed to gone by December. Will the new iridiums have the same flare effects?

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No. Their antennas are smaller and aren't arranged in a way that can create bright flares like the old Iridiums produced.

There are still some old Iridiums up there in uncontrolled orbits that haven't/can't be deorbited in a controlled way. They'll still flare until their orbits decay, but because they're not controlled, the timing and location of the flares is more difficult or impossible to predict because while you can track their orbit from the ground and know when they'll be overhead, they're no longer holding their attitude. Even if it's overhead, you can't predict how the antennas will be positioned to know where they're going to be reflect sunlight toward.

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Did you know you can see the flare off an iridium sat in broad daylight if you know just when and where to look?

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Tell us how please