Video: Today, SpaceX will launch a previously flown Falcon 9 rocket to a Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO), where it will drop off an EchoStar 105/SES-11 communications satellite. Following deployment, the rocket will attempt a landing on a droneship stationed in the Atlantic ocean. You can watch it live right here starting at 9:38AM AEST.
Image: SpaceX/ORBCOMM-2
Today’s launch at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Florida, will be the second for SpaceX this week, the first happening just two days ago at California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base. Of note, this will be the third time that SpaceX will have launched a previously flown booster. In this case, the Falcon 9 that’s being used for this mission flew a resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) in February of this year.
The two-hour window for today’s launch starts at 9:53AM AEST (6:53PM EDT, 22:53 UTC). The webcast (above) should start about 15 minutes before liftoff. If all goes well, the rocket will deliver the satellite to GTO about 36 minutes after liftoff, and then land on the “Of Course I Still Love You” droneship soon afterwards.
Failing this, a second window will open on tomorrow at the same scheduled time as today.
[SpaceX]