The Falcon 9 rocket may reach 50 launches on Tuesday

[Elderberry]

ARS Technica by Eric Berger 3/4/2018

Company will reach the half-century mark fairly quickly for an orbital rocket.

SpaceX launched its first Falcon 9 rocket less than a decade ago, in June 2010. Early next week, the California-based rocket company will go for its 50th launch of its workhorse booster.

The launch attempt will come as soon as early next Tuesday, 12:33am ET, from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. SpaceX will attempt to launch the Hispasat 30W-6 communications satellite to geostationary transfer orbit. The mission has a two-hour launch window.

Whether SpaceX will attempt to land the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket is not clear. The satellite weighs slightly more than six metric tons, which is about half-a-ton heavier than any Falcon 9 payload bound for geostationary orbit that the company has tried to land before. Therefore the rocket will expend nearly all of its fuel to get into a proper geostationary transfer orbit—making any return to Earth hot and fast.

More: https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/03/spacex-set-to-launch-its-50th-falcon-9-rocket/

[Elderberry]

https://techcrunch.com/2018/03/05/watch-spacex-launch-a-record-sized-satellite-on-its-50th-falcon-9-live/

SpaceX is setting up to launch its 50th Falcon 9 rocket, with a payload that also represents a new milestone. The two-hour launch window is set to begin at 12:33 AM EST (9:33 PM PST) so it’s a late one, but if you’re a fan of watching SpaceX make history, this is one to watch.

SpaceX won’t be attempting a recovery of this rocket, in this case because of inclement weather off the coast of Florida  in the Atlantic. The launch itself will take off from SpaceX’s SLC-40 launch complex at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. If it’s scrubbed for any reason, there’s a backup opportunity that kicks off at 12:33 AM EST on Wednesday March 7.

[kevindavis007]

Bravo SpaceX

[Elderberry]

SpaceX successfully launched a Spanish communications satellite early today (March 6) on the landmark 50th flight of the company's workhorse Falcon 9 rocket.

The two-stage Falcon 9 lifted off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 12:33 a.m. EST (0533 GMT) this morning, delivering the Hispasat 30W-6 satellite to Earth orbit about 30 minutes later.

https://www.space.com/39890-spacex-launches-communications-satellite-50th-falcon-9-flight.html