LeoStella satellite for BlackSky
In a photo from 2019, LeoStella technicians work on the first satellite to be produced by the Tukwila, Wash.-based joint venture. (GeekWire Photo)

Tukwila, Wash.-based LeoStella cast a spotlight today on the delivery of its first two built-from-scratch satellites for the BlackSky Earth-watching constellation ⁠— with their launch on a SpaceX rocket set for Thursday.

  • In a news release, LeoStella said the two 110-pound satellites were delivered to Florida on June 1 in preparation for liftoff from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. They’ll join four other Global satellites that were built in-house by BlackSky, a subsidiary of Seattle-based Spaceflight Industries, and sent into orbit over the past two years.
  • BlackSky’s Global satellites are riding to low Earth orbit as secondary payloads through the auspices of SpaceX’s Smallsat Rideshare Program. The primary payload is SpaceX’s 10th batch of Starlink broadband internet satellites, which are built in Redmond, Wash.
  • LeoStella CEO Mike Hettich said the delivery for BlackSky “marks another major milestone in LeoStella’s promise of rapid, low-cost, high-performance satellite constellations.” The company, a joint venture between Spaceflight Industries and Thales Alenia Space, has a contract to produce 18 more BlackSky satellites at its Tukwila factory.
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