Offering a cover serviced for SpaceX Falcon 9 launch of the IXPE Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer Satellite, IXPE Mission Patch cachet, Cancelled Kennedy Space Center FL 9-December-2021.
NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) mission launched at 1 a.m. EST Thursday on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. A joint effort with the Italian Space Agency, the IXPE observatory is NASA’s first mission dedicated to measuring the polarization of X-rays from the most extreme and mysterious objects in the universe – supernova remnants, supermassive black holes, and dozens of other high-energy objects. The rocket performed as expected, with spacecraft separation taking place 33 minutes into flight. Approximately one minute later, the spacecraft unfurled its solar arrays. IXPE entered its orbit around Earth’s equator at an altitude of approximately 372 miles (600 kilometers). About 40 minutes after launch, mission operators received the first spacecraft telemetry data. (NASA)