SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is set for liftoff from Cape Canaveral on Friday evening, heading due east over the Atlantic Ocean to deliver the SES 9 television broadcast satellite into orbit 31 minutes later.
The 229-foot-tall rocket is poised for launch from Complex 40 at 6:35 p.m. EST (2335 GMT) Friday at the opening of a 91-minute launch window.
Perched atop the rocket is the SES 9 communications satellite, a 11,620-pound (5,271-kilogram) spacecraft made by Boeing, ready to beam television programming, data services and mobile connectivity to homes, businesses, ships and airplanes in the Asia-Pacific and the Indian Ocean region.
The timeline below outlines the launch sequence for the Falcon 9 flight with SES 9. It does not include times for the experimental descent and landing attempt of the first stage booster, which SpaceX says is unlikely to succeed due to the high speed required for the SES 9 launch.
SpaceX’s landing platform is positioned about 400 miles (650 kilometers) east of Cape Canaveral for the first stage landing attempt, which is expected around 10 minutes after liftoff.
Closing out a banner year of launches, an Ariane 5 rocket thundered into space Wednesday from French Guiana with two commercial communications satellites manufactured in California to expand television and broadband access in Latin America and broadcast television programming in Japan.
Remote sound-triggered cameras around launch pad 39A captured stunning views of Thursday evening’s launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on the first reflight of a commercial orbital-class booster.
An ocean-going cargo barge modified to serve as a landing pad for SpaceX’s Falcon 9 booster is set to depart the Port of Jacksonville for a journey into the Atlantic Ocean ahead of Friday’s launch of a space station cargo mission from Cape Canaveral.