S. Korean military satellite launched into orbit

SpaceX launches its Falcon 9 rocket from Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Florida on Monday, July 20, 2020. On board Falcon is Anasis 2, a communications satellite for the South Korean Military. Photo by Joe Marino/UPI

SpaceX launched South Korea's first communications satellite to be dedicated for military use on Monday evening.

A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off as planned at 5:30 p.m. from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida into a partly cloudy sky and headed over the Atlantic Ocean. The mission had been postponed twice over the last week.

SpaceX confirmed the satellite deployed at 32 minutes, 49 seconds into the flight.

SpaceX recovered the first stage booster of rocket, which landed on a barge in the ocean about 350 miles east of the launch site. The booster is the same one that launched astronauts to the International Space Station on May 31.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 ― carrying ANASIS II, a national security satellite for South Korea ― lifts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. (Craig Bailey/Florida Today via AP)

SpaceX launches its Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida on Monday. Photo by Joe Marino/UPI

Two recovery ships were to attempt recovery of the fairings, or halves of the rocket nose cone, after they fell back into the ocean.

Because it is a military project, few details about the satellite ― ANASIS 2 ― have been released. The name stands for Army, Navy, Air Force Satellite Information System.

South Korea launched a similar satellite in 2013, but it did not deploy properly and was lost, said Kaitlyn Johnson, associate director at the non-profit Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.

This launch is part of a global expansion of the space industry, particularly for smaller nations, she said.

Johnson said the satellite most likely would be positioned directly over the Korean Peninsula, providing secure communications for troops. (UPI)