Today, Thursday March 30, is a historic milestone for SpaceX if the planned SES-10 Mission launch goes ahead. The reason? It will be the first reflight of an orbital class rocket as SpaceX intends to reuse the Falcon 9 first stage, which was previously and successfully used for its CRS-8 mission carried out in April last year.
SES-10 will launch a commercial communications satellite into Geostationary Transfer Orbit for the satellite operator SES. The launch is taking place at Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, with the launch window opening at 6:27pm EDT and remaining open for two and a half hours. If it happens, the satellite is expected to deploy 32 minutes after lift off.
This launch isn't just important for SpaceX, though. The satellite it is transporting includes "55 Ku-band transponder equivalents" and is set to offer significantly more broadcast capacity to Latin America, covering the Gulf of California in Mexico to Cape Horn in Chile as part of the Simon Bolivar 2 satellite network.
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Reuse of the rocket is indeed historic, but it could become a double celebration. Once the launch happens, the reused Falcon 9 first stage will attempt to land just like it did in April last year. A droneship named "Of Course I Still Love You" will be waiting in the Atlantic Ocean to receive the rocket. If it lands successfully, SpaceX should be able to reuse it yet again on a future mission.
Although the launch is planned for today, a backup launch window is also available if conditions turn out to be unfavorable. That window opens on Saturday, April 1 at the same time of 6:27pm EDT. Below is the SpaceX webcast allowing you to watch the launch live. It is expected to go live around 20 minutes before liftoff.
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