On May 22, 2018 at 19:47 UTC the " Falcon-9” rocket-carrier was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, USA. The launch was performed by the "SpaceX” private company supported by the 30th Space Wing of US Air Force. The rocket orbited 7 satellites: 5 Iridium-NEXT communication satellites and the 2 identical GRACE-FO (Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment - Follow On) satellites for a cooperative project managed by NASA and the German Research Centre for Geosciences.