Falcon 9 / SES-8 Launch (launch video)

[Dr Mordrid]

The first Falcon 9 v1.1 launch from KSC

The first SpaceX launch to a GTO (geosynchronous transfer orbit.)

The payload is a large communications satellite built by Orbital Sciences

http://www.orbital.com/SatellitesSpace/Communications/SES-8/

Hotfire Nov. 20 (Wednesday)

Launch Nov. 25 1737-1843 Local (range approved)

Launch will probably stream on the SpaceX LiveStream channel. Webcasts usually start ~30 minutes before the launch window opens.

[Dr Mordrid]

Elon Musk ‏@elonmusk

Headed to Cape Canaveral tomorrow for first @SpaceX geostationary satellite launch.

Elon Musk ‏@elonmusk

Will be toughest mission to date. Requires coast + upper stage restart + going to 80,000 km altitude (~1/4 way to moon).

Hotfire was successful and the launch is on for the 25th.

[Dr Mordrid]

Rollout - still no outstanding issues.

Jonathan Amos ‏@BBCAmos

Falcon-9 telecon tonight with SES CTO Martin Halliwell: Entry of @SpaceX to commercial launch market will "shake industry to its roots".

http://spaceflightnow.com/falcon9/007/131124preview/#.UpMnJ7BOk0M

Falcon 9 rocket's commercial debut set for Monday

Ready to test the commercial mettle of the Falcon 9 rocket, SpaceX engineers are preparing to loft a television broadcasting satellite into orbit from Cape Canaveral on Monday in a mission that could usher in a new paradigm in the global launch services industry.

With a 6,918-pound communications satellite nestled in its nose, the Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to lift off at 5:37 p.m. EST (2237 GMT) Monday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.

The SES 8 spacecraft, built by Orbital Sciences Corp. and owned by SES of Luxembourg, will be deployed from the Falcon 9 upper stage about a half-hour later on a 15-year mission to broadcast high-definition television to homes in India, Vietnam, Thailand and other parts of Southeast Asia.

The Falcon 9's first commercial satellite launch is sure to be widely-watched by rocket and satellite operators. Officials with SpaceX and SES say that is for good reason.

"Whether or not this launch is successful, I'm confident we will certainly make it on some subsequent launch," said Elon Musk, SpaceX's CEO and chief designer, in a meeting with reporters Sunday in Cocoa Beach, Fla. "I don't want to tempt fate, but I think it's going to have a pretty significant impact on the world launch market and on the launch industry because our prices are the most competitive of any in the world."

On its website, SpaceX advertises launch costs between $56 million and $77 million for a Falcon 9 flight. That is less than SpaceX's chief competitors, the Proton and Ariane 5 rockets, which run about $100 million and $200 million per launch.

Operated and sold by the European Arianespace launch provider, Ariane 5 rockets typically launch two satellites at a time, bringing its price-per-payload in line with the Russian Proton vehicle marketed by U.S.-based International Launch Services.

"In order for the other launch companies to compete, they, therefore, will have to improve their designs and really strive to have next-generation rocket technology," Musk said. "So I think SpaceX could be a powerful forcing function for the improvement of rocket technology, not just the stuff we do ourselves, but in that we will force other rocket companies to either develop new technology that's a lot better, or they have to exit the launch market."

SES is the world's No. 2 commercial satellite operator measured by fleet size, and the firm got a deal after agreeing to be on the first Falcon 9 launch to geostationary transfer orbit, according to Martin Halliwell, SES chief technical officer.

Halliwell would not disclose what SES paid for the flight, but he said the contract value was in the lower range of the price spectrum posted on SpaceX's website.

"This is really rocking the industry. Everybody has to look out," Halliwell said Sunday. "There are a lot of people who hope that SpaceX is going to fail. If you look towards the Ariane, if you looks towards Proton, for example, I think they are shaking in their shoes. I really do. Because if this is a success, the whole industry is going to be turned upside down. I don't mean this one particular launch, but if it now becomes the norm that this is the type of launch vehicle that is going to be provided, everybody is going to have to look to their cost space and they're going to have to change their attitude as the way to go forward."
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[Dr Mordrid]

At about T+03:20 after separation maneuvering thrusters fire on the first stage. They turned it for an engines first re-entry to see if it survives without a retro burn. If so it might save fuel during future first stage landings.

SES-8 had a perfect launch into a super-synchronous geostationary transfer orbit. The satellite is healthy and SpaceX has 2 of the 3 successful Falcon 9 v1.1 flights it needs to launch US national security payloads.

Next up is Thaicom-6, currently scheduled for Dec. 22 from KSC.