Dodging cloudy weather, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket thundered to life and streaked away from Cape Canaveral early Monday morning, lifting a Canadian communications satellite into orbit while the booster's first stage plunged back to Earth, settling to an on-target touchdown aboard an off-shore droneship.

It was the 16th SpaceX launch so far this year, boosting the rocket's landing record to 29 successful recoveries, 18 on droneships and 11 on land at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

The mission got off to a spectacular start at 12:45 a.m. EDT (GMT-4) when the rocket's nine Merlin 1D first stage engines ignited and throttled up to full power, quickly pushing the 229-foot-tall booster away from pad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Mounted in the rocket's nose cone was Telesat Canada's Telstar 18 VANTAGE communications satellite, intended to replace an aging relay station already in orbit to provide video, data and mobile communications across China, Australia and the Pacific Ocean region all the way to Hawaii.

Liftoff came one hour and 17 minutes late because of stormy weather across Cape Canaveral but the rocket had a four-hour launch window and conditions eventually improved enought ot permit a safe takeoff.

Arcing away to the east, the Falcon 9 put on a dramatic show for area night owls as it knifed through low clouds and arced out over the Atlantic Ocean, rapidly accelerating toward space atop 1.2 million pounds of thrust.

Two-and-a-half minutes after liftoff, after pushing the rocket out of the thick lower atmosphere, the first stage engines shut down as planned, the stage fell away and the flight continued on the power of a single Merlin engine in the rocket's second stage that quickly faded from view.

The Falcon 9's first stage, meanwhile, flipped around and plunged back into the discernible atmosphere, firing up three of its engines to slow down for re-entry.

As the rocket plummeted toward Earth, computer-controlled titanium "grid fins" at the top of the stage moved about to maintain the booster's orientation as it headed for the drone ship "Of Course I Still Love You" stationed several hundred miles east of Cape Canaveral.

Nearing its target, the rocket re-started a single engine to slow down for landing, extending four legs and settling to an on-target touchdown on the deck of the droneship, SpaceX confirmed.

Another view of launch as the Falcon 9 climbed away from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Steven Young/Spaceflight Now

Landing came about 15 seconds after the Falcon 9's second stage engine completed the first of two planned "burns," putting Telstar 18V into an initial parking orbit. A second burn was executed 26 minutes after launch to complete the job and the Telstar 18 VANTAGE satellite was released to fly on its own about five minutes later.

While SpaceX did not provide details, communications satellites are typically placed in highly elliptical "transfer" orbits with high points around 20,000 miles or higher and low points just a few hundred miles up.

On board thrusters are then used to circularize the orbit at 22,300 miles above the equator where satellites take 24 hours to complete one orbit and appear stationary in the sky as the Earth turns. That allows the use of fixed ground antennas, greatly simplifying space-based communications.

Built by SSL (formerly Space Systems/Loral), Telstar 18 VANTAGE is a joint venture between Telesat Canada and the Hong Kong-based APT Satellite Co. The satellite's exact cost was not revealed, but it is believed to be around $200 million.

"We have an embedded base that's on T18 (Telstar 18) today that will migrate over to T18 VANTAGE," Tom Eaton, vice president of Telesat international sales, told Spaceflightnow.

"So there's an element of continuity of service at play here by replacing the existing satellite, but T18 VANTAGE, since it's the third of our high-throughput satellites, carries a lot more flexibility, switchability in its coverages, and then has high-throughput capability as well."

The relay station tips the scales at more than 15,560 pounds and is equipped with high-speed Ku-band and C-band transponders, providing coverage stretching from India and Pakistan to Hawaii and enabling "direct connectivity from any point in Asia to the Americas," the company said in a release.

"Telstar 18V has a broad C-band beam over Asia which is similar to the one on Telstar 18, the satellite it will replace," Dan Goldberg, Telesat president and CEO, said in a July quarterly earnings call.

"It also has a mix of regional beams and high throughput spot beams and Ku-band that represents a significant expansion of our Ku-band capacity for Asia. Although Telstar 18V will be owned and operated by Telesat, our longstanding partner APT is providing 57.5 percent of the capital for the satellite program in exchange for use of 57.5 percent of the satellite's capacity."

Next up for SpaceX is launch of Argentina's SAOCOM 1A Earth observation satellite on Oct. 7. That flight will take off from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., and the rocket's first stage will attempt to land back at the launch site, the first landing in California.</s>A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket thundered to life and streaked away from Cape Canaveral early Monday, boosting a Canadian communications satellite toward orbit in the California rocket builder’s 16th flight so far this year.

Lighting up the deep overnight sky with a burst of flame, the rocket’s nine Merlin 1D first stage engines ignited and throttled up to full power at 12:45 a.m. EDT, quickly pushing the 229-foot-tall booster away from pad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Liftoff came an hour and 17 minutes late because of widespread lightning and extensive cloud cover over Cape Canaveral, but conditions improved enough as the evening wore on to permit a safe launch.

Arcing away to the east, the Falcon 9 put on a spectacular show for area night owls as it shot out over the Atlantic Ocean east of the launch pad, knifing through low clouds and racing toward space atop 1.2 million pounds of thrust.

Two-and-a-half minutes after liftoff, after pushing the rocket out of the thick lower atmosphere, the first stage engines shut down as planned, the stage fell away and the flight continued on the power of a single Merlin engine in the rocket’s second stage.

The first stage, meanwhile, was programmed to attempt a landing on the off-shore drone ship “Of Course I Still Love You” while the second stage continued to orbit. A successful landing would improve SpaceX’s record to 29 successful first stage recoveries, 18 on drone ships and 11 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

But the primary goal of the flight was to boost Telesat Canada’s Telstar 18 VANTAGE communications satellite into an initially elliptical orbit. The satellite, built by Space Systems/Loral, represents a partnership between Telesat Canada and Hong Kong-based APT Satellite Co.

The relay station is equipped with on-board thrusters to circularize the orbit at 22,300 miles above the equator. It will replace an older Telstar relay station, providing video, data and mobile communications services across Asia, Australia and the Pacific Ocean region.

Including the February debut of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket, Monday’s flight marked SpaceX’s 16th launch so far this year, its 61st major launch overall and the fifth featuring an upgraded “block 5” first stage designed for multiple reflights.</s>On Monday, September 10th, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 successfully lifted off at 12:45 a.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida carrying the Telstar 18 VANTAGE satellite to a Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO). The satellite was deployed approximately 32 minutes after liftoff.

Following stage separation, the first stage of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 landed on the “Of Course I Still Love You” droneship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.</s>SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket on Monday morning at 12:45 a.m. ET from Cape Canaveral, Florida, after rain and cloudy weather delayed the launch by over an hour.

The rocket was carrying Canada's Telstar 18 Vantage communication satellite. It was deployed approximately 32 minutes after lift off, according to SpaceX.

The reusable rocket, tailored for eventual crewed missions for NASA, returned to earth following stage separation and landed safely on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean.</s>SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 12:45 a.m. ET Monday and delivered the Telstar 18 VANTAGE commercial communications satellite to geostationary transfer orbit. The rocket's first stage successfully landed on the Of Course I Still Love You drone ship and will return to Port Canaveral in a couple days.</s>SpaceX early Monday completed the second in a pair of successful summer launches for Canadian satellite operator Telesat, the latest example of the company returning commercial launches to Florida.

A new Falcon 9 rocket roared from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Launch Complex 40 at 12:45 a.m., after more than an hour's delay because of rain and lightning.

A trail fire from nine Merlin main engines cut through clouds and darkness on an eastward arc over the Atlantic Ocean, as the rumble from 1.7 million pounds of thrust washed across the Space Coast, awakening some residents.

Thirty-two minutes later, the more than 15,000-pound Telstar 18 Vantage satellite was safely in orbit, on the heels of Telstar 19 Vantage, which was launched July 22 by another Falcon 9.

More: SpaceX continues its quest to Mars with this weekend's launch from Cape Canaveral

Less than nine minutes after liftoff, the rocket’s first stage landed 400 miles offshore on the deck of SpaceX’s “Of Course I Still Love You” drone ship — the 29th successful landing by a Falcon booster.

The stage will return to Port Canaveral for inspections and likely be made available for a second launch. SpaceX believes its recently upgraded Falcon 9 should be able to fly 10 or more times with minimal maintenance, which could help cut launch costs further.

Telsesat was once a regular presence at the Cape, launching satellites on Delta rockets and on NASA’s space shuttle in the 1970s and 80s.

But like most commercial satellite firms, the company by the 90s had shifted to lower-cost Russian and European rockets, while American launchers increasingly catered to more expensive U.S. government missions for national security and science.

A commercial launch from the Cape became a rarity by the time Boeing and Lockheed Martin merged their Delta and Atlas fleets under the United Launch Alliance joint venture in 2006.

But Telesat said it welcomed the opportunity to return to Florida, where several hundred employees and customer guests visited over the two missions.

Given the choice, “our customers would rather come to the Cape than go to Kazakhstan, for example,” said Tom Eaton, Telesat’s vice president of international sales.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 sent Telstar 18 Vantage on its way to an orbit 22,300 miles over the equator, where it will provide broadband services to the Asia-Pacific region, replacing an older spacecraft.

Built by California-based SSL, the satellite is the third “high-throughput” satellite in Telesat’s fleet of now 17 spacecraft in such high orbits, which can provide faster data speeds.

Eaton said the satellite's services would, for example, help link thousands of remote islands in Indonesia, supporting media, schools, first responders and hospitals.

“That capacity is ideally suited for a country like Indonesia to connect its remote communities and bring them together,” he said.

While expanding its capacity in what is known as geostationary orbit, Telesat is one of several companies — including SpaceX — proposing to deploy a mega-constellation of small satellites in low Earth orbit to provide global Internet.

Initial plans call for a constellation of 117 satellites potentially starting service in 2022. SpaceX’s constellation, in contrast, would include more than 4,000 spacecraft.

The launch was SpaceX’s 16th in 2018, and the 10th of those flying a commercial satellite mission. SpaceX is now two shy of last year’s launch total, with more than three months remaining in the year.

The Eastern Range’s next scheduled mission isn’t until Oct. 6, when Northrop Grumman’s air-launched Pegasus rocket is targeting launch of NASA's ICON science mission.

Before that, NASA’s Launch Services Program and United Launch Alliance are preparing for a flight from California this Saturday, Sept. 15, of an Earth climate mission on the final Delta II rocket.

© Gannett Co., Inc. 2018. All Rights Reserved</s>SpaceX launched its second heavyweight Telstar telecommunications satellite from Florida tonight, and brought the Falcon 9 rocket’s first-stage booster down for a landing on a drone ship hundreds of miles offshore in the Atlantic Ocean.

The mission to put the 15,600-pound Telstar 18 Vantage satellite into geostationary transfer orbit for Canadian-based Telesat was nearly a carbon copy of SpaceX’s successful Telstar 19V launch in July, with a bit of added suspense due to the weather.

Concerns about thunderstorms and lightning near the launch site at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station delayed the launch for 77 minutes, but the Falcon 9 rose without a hitch at 12:45 a.m. ET Monday (9:45 p.m. PT Sunday).

Minutes after launch, the rocket’s second stage separated from the first stage and sent the satellite onward to orbit. Meanwhile, the first stage maneuvered itself toward the landing ship, christened “Of Course I Still Love You,” slowed its supersonic descent, and made a problem-free touchdown on the deck.

SpaceX has been experimenting with techniques to recover and reuse the two halves of the Falcon 9’s nose cone, or fairing, as part of an effort to achieve millions of dollars in additional cost savings. No such recovery attempt was made this time, however.

A little more than a half-hour after launch, the Falcon 9’s second stage relit its rocket engine to adjust its orbit. Then it deployed the satellite, marking the end of SpaceX’s role in Telstar 18V’s mission.

Over the course of the next few weeks, the satellite will get into position over the Asia-Pacific region and add to Telesat’s broadband coverage in C-band and Ku-band frequencies. Its transponders will provide wide-ranging broadband coverage across Asia and reaching all the way to Hawaii, and focused beams for customers in Southeast Asia, Mongolia, Australia, New Zealand and the North Pacific Ocean.

The next-generation Telstar spacecraft rank among the heaviest commercial telecom satellites ever sent into orbit, and have a design life of 15 years.

Tonight’s launch represented SpaceX’s 60th successful Falcon 9 launch since the rocket’s debut in 2010 (with one failure in 2015, plus a launch-pad loss of rocket and payload in 2016). SpaceX’s next launch is due to put Argentina’s SAOCOM 1A Earth-monitoring satellite into orbit in October.
• SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket puts 10 Iridium satellites in orbit, then lands in rough seas
• Sweet 16! SpaceX sends KoreaSat-5A into orbit and then lands Falcon 9 booster</s>A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched a communications satellite into orbit Monday before completing a drone ship landing in the Atlantic Ocean.

Following a 77-minute weather delay, the Falcon 9 Rocket took off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 12:45 a.m. EDT, and then sent the satellite into orbit 32 minutes later.

About 8 minutes after the separation, the first stage of the Falcon 9 landed on a drone ship called “Of Course I Still Love You.”

The satellite, known as the Telstar 18 Vantage, is the third high throughput satellite (HTS) in the Canadian company’s global fleet and the first to cover the Asia Pacific region, which means improved connectivity between Asia and the Americas.

Built by the California-based aerospace company SSL, the new satellite “will replace and expand on the capabilities of Telesat’s Telstar 18 satellite,” which first launched in 2004, SpaceX officials said in a statement.

At 15,564 lbs, the satellite is the second heaviest communications satellite ever launched and is designed to last about 15 years in orbit, Space.com reports.

SpaceX is expected to launch its next mission on Oct. 7 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California with Argentina’s SAOCOM 1A Earth-observation satellite, according to Space.com.</s>The sky over Cape Canaveral lit up just before 1 eastern time this morning as SpaceX conducted another successful launch and landing.

 After a more than one-hour weather delay, a Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 12:45 a.m. Eastern time and deployed a communications satellite into orbit.

 The satellite will provide broadband communications services to China, Mongolia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Ocean region.

 Minutes after the launch, the Falcon 9 booster landed on SpaceX’s drone ship, Of Course I Still Love You.

The Telstar 18V satellite will provide constant broadband communications services to the Asia-Pacific region, do you see satellite communication as the future for internet and phone service around the world?

The post Another Successful SpaceX Launch appeared first on 850 WFTL.</s>If all goes according to plan, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will vault off the pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Launch Complex 40 on Sunday night with one of the heaviest payloads the company has launched to date.

Teams have four hours – 11:28 p.m. Sunday to 3:28 a.m. Monday – to launch Telesat's Telstar 18 VANTAGE, a roughly 15,550-pound spacecraft to geostationary transfer orbit before it starts service over Asia and the Pacific Ocean.

The rocket's first stage will target an automated descent and landing on the Of Course I Still Love You drone ship shortly after liftoff before its return to Port Canaveral by mid-next week.

Weather, according to the Air Force, is 60 percent "go" for the attempt on Sunday.

There are three parts to our coverage:
• Live video of the launch, available here or at our Facebook page.
• Real-time coverage of the launch in augmented reality available in our 321 LAUNCH app (download for iOS here and Android here).

Coverage kicks off at 10:30 p.m. Sunday at floridatoday.com/space and will feature in-depth coverage, photos, charts and more. You can ask the team questions and strike up a conversation. We'll host SpaceX's live video.

If you're under clear skies, you can look to the state's east coast to spot Falcon 9 launch from Cape Canaveral.

If you do step outside for the launch, bring your smartphone and stay tuned to live updates. The coverage is available at floridatoday.com/space in your mobile browser or in the 321 LAUNCH app.

Contact Emre Kelly at aekelly@floridatoday.com or 321-242-3715. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @EmreKelly.

Join floridatoday.com/space for countdown updates and chat at 10:30 p.m. Sunday, including streaming of SpaceX's webcast starting about 15 minutes before liftoff.
SpaceX successfully launches Canadian communication satellite Telstar 18V from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. It was deployed into geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) approximately 32 minutes after rocket's liftoff.