![]() ![]() SpaceX advertizes Falcon 9 launches for under $60 million, and SES received a discount as the first commercial customer to commit to the new rocket. The company credited SpaceX's lower-cost rocket for enabling it to pursue such markets. ![]() The satellite will broadcast high-definition television channels to the Asia-Pacific region, which SES calls an important growth market. The spacecraft in the weeks ahead will circularize its orbit and settle 22,300 miles over the equator in a "geostationary" orbit, where satellites match the speed of Earth's rotation and appear from the ground to stay in fixed positions. The same was true for separation of the 7,000-pound SES-8 satellite, whose initial trajectory took it more than 50,000 miles up. SpaceX and SES were confident that issue was resolved, but there was uncertainty until SpaceX confirmed on Twitter that the burn had been completed. That came when the upper stage engine reignited for a second burn - something it had failed to accomplish during a September test flight of what SpaceX calls "version 1.1" of the Falcon 9. Observers could see the booster and payload fairing fall away.īut it was not until a half-hour later after liftoff that SpaceX confirmed the mission had passed a critical test. Technical problems had stalled two attempts last week, after which SpaceX cleaned and replaced some parts of the rocket's nine first-stage Merlin 1D engines.Īs the rocket climbed into clear skies, fading sunlight illuminated its twisting exhaust plume in orange and white, and the rocket appeared to leave a wake high above the Atlantic. The 224-foot Falcon 9 rumbled off its Launch Complex 40 pad with 1.3 million pounds of thrust on time at 5:41 p.m. Martin Halliwell, the chief technology officer for SES, had said a successful mission would "shake the industry to its roots," with other satellite operators and launch providers watching closely to see if SpaceX could deliver on its promise. "The successful insertion of the SES-8 satellite confirms the upgraded Falcon 9 launch vehicle delivers to the industry's highest performance standards," SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said in a statement.Įarlier Tuesday, Musk had thanked SES for taking a chance on the Falcon 9, which had launched six times before but only once in its new configuration with more powerful engines and a 43-foot payload fairing.Ībout two-thirds of SpaceX's 50 contracted launches are for commercial customers, but the Falcon 9 had not yet placed a large communications satellite more than 22,000 miles over the equator where many of them operate. It was the third attempt in nine days to launch the broadcasting satellite for Luxembourg-based SES, one of the world's largest satellite operators, but ultimately it signaled SpaceX's readiness to take on a $2.4 billion market dominated by international competitors. On Tuesday, the company achieved another milestone when its upgraded Falcon 9 rocket deployed its first commercial communications satellite into an orbit high above Earth, 33 minutes after a beautiful twilight liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. SpaceX had already proved it could launch cargo to the International Space Station. Watch Video: SpaceX launches Falcon 9 from Cape CanaveralĬAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.
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