A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched the commercial telecommunications Telstar 19 VANTAGE satellite to a Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO) from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 1:50 a.m. on 22 July 2018. Following stage separation, the Falcon 9’s first stage landed on the “Of Course I Still Love You” droneship stationed several hundred miles offshore in the Atlantic Ocean.

The Telstar 19 VANTAGE satellite, built by Space Systems Loral for Telesat, covers distinct zones across the Americas and Atlantic in both Ku-band and Ka-band. Ku-band coverage include: Brazil regional beam, North Atlantic regional beam and High Throughput Satellite (HTS) spot beams over Brazil and the Andean region. Its Ka-band HTS spot beams will cover South America, the Caribbean, the North Atlantic and Northern Canada. The satellite has an expected design life of fifteen years.