September 14, 1997 1:36 am

Iridium 27 to 33

|

Proton-K/17S40

Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan
Days
Hours
Minutes
Seconds
September 14, 1997 1:36 am

Share:

Last Updated:

2026-07-12 12:20:55

Iridium provides global mobile telecommunications services using a constellation of 66 low earth orbit satellites in a 86.4° inclined orbit. Although 77 satellites were originally envisioned for the system and spawned the name based on the 77th element in the periodic table, the system has been scaled back. Motorola’s Satellite Communications Group designed and manufactured the Iridium satellites with Lockheed Martin providing the LM-700A spacecraft buses.
Launch Overview
Window Open 01:36 UTC
Window Close 01:36 UTC
Lift Off Sep 14, 1997 · 01:36 UTC
Launch Facility Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan
Launch Pad 81/23 (81L)
Target Orbit Low Earth Orbit
Payload Overview
Customer Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center
Payload Iridium 27 to 33
Rocket Proton-K/17S40
Destination Low Earth Orbit
Recovery Overview
Landing Location See Mission Notes
Landing Type RTLS / Droneship
Iridium provides global mobile telecommunications services using a constellation of 66 low earth orbit satellites in a 86.4° inclined orbit. Although 77 satellites were originally envisioned for the system and spawned the name based on the 77th element in the periodic table, the system has been scaled back. Motorola’s Satellite Communications Group designed and manufactured the Iridium satellites with Lockheed Martin providing the LM-700A spacecraft buses.

Height

LEO Payload

Total Launches

Status

Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center
81/23 (81L)
Launch Overview
Window Open 01:36 UTC
Window Close 01:36 UTC
Lift Off Sep 14, 1997 · 01:36 UTC
Launch Facility Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan
Launch Pad 81/23 (81L)
Target Orbit Low Earth Orbit
Payload Overview
Customer Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center
Payload Iridium 27 to 33
Rocket Proton-K/17S40
Destination Low Earth Orbit
Recovery Overview
Landing Location See Mission Notes
Landing Type RTLS / Droneship

Related Stories