posted 03-27-2017 01:03 PM               

SpaceX SES-10 mission overview

A SpaceX Falcon 9 will deliver SES-10, a communications satellite for SES of Luxembourg, to a Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO).

SpaceX is targeting the launch of SES-10 from the historic Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The two and a half hour launch window opens on Thursday, March 30, at 6:27 p.m. EDT (2227 GMT).

A backup opportunity opens on Saturday (April 1), also at 6:27 p.m. EDT (2227 GMT).

The SES-10 mission will mark SpaceX's first launch of a previously flown Falcon 9 rocket first stage. The stage first flew on April 8, 2016, with SpaceX's CRS-8 Dragon cargo spacecraft on a resupply mission to the International Space Station.

SpaceX will attempt to again land the first stage after launch on the autonomous spaceport drone ship "Of Course I Still Love You."

posted 03-30-2017 06:26 PM               

Rocket rerun: SpaceX achieves first reuse of launch and landed Falcon 9 stage

SpaceX has made new history with the launch and recovery of a used rocket.

The company on Thursday (March 30) successfully placed a communications satellite into Earth orbit using a rocket's first stage that previously flew. The achievement advances SpaceX's plans to reduce the cost of lofting payloads into space by reusing its rocket hardware.