Home » WATCH: SpaceX Successfully Launches Second Hand Falcon 9 Rocket, Nails Drone Landing

WATCH: SpaceX Successfully Launches Second Hand Falcon 9 Rocket, Nails Drone Landing

By  //  March 31, 2017

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Launch lifted off at 6:27 p.m. ET

ABOVE VIDEO: SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch Thursday from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A carrying the SES-10 communications satellite for SES-10. The rocket booster will attempt to land on a drone ship tonight.

BREVARD COUNTY • KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLORIDA – A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched right on time at 6:27 p.m. Thursday from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A carrying the SES-10 communications satellite for SES.

SpaceX also successfully landed the first-stage booster on the company’s autonomous spaceport drone ship, Of Course I Still Love You, in the Atlantic Ocean.

This is the same Falcon 9 rocket that launched in April 2016 that delivered cargo to the International Space Station.

The SES 10 communications satellite, owned by SES of Luxembourg, will provide direct-to-home TV broadcasting and other telecommunication services for Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America and South America. It will also cover Brazil and support offshore oil and gas exploration.

This was SpaceX’s first opportunity to prove that its rockets can really be reused as the Falcon 9 rocket set for blastoff was recovered from a mission about a year ago.

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A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched right on time at 6:27 p.m. Thursday from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A carrying the SES-10 communications satellite for SES. (SpaceX image)