Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI)’s Dror 1 communications satellite was successfully launched into space early Sunday morning from the SpaceX launch facility in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The launch took place shortly after 8 a.m. (Israeli time) aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 launcher.

The Dror 1 satellite, Israel’s first communications satellite, weighs 4.5 tons, has a wingspan of 17.8 meters, and bears the largest transmission and reception antennas ever built in Israel. It is intended to serve Israel’s strategic and civilian communications for about 15 years.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)