SpaceX targets first launch of 2014 for January 3

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – SpaceX is targeting the Cape's first launch of 2014 one week from Friday.

A Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to blast off with Thaicom Plc's Thaicom 6 television satellite at 5:50 p.m. on Jan. 3, the opening of a window that extends to 6:57 p.m., Local 6 News partner Florida Today reported.

The launch would be SpaceX's second from the Cape of its upgraded Falcon 9 rocket and second of a commercial communications satellite to a geostationary orbit more than 22,000 miles above Earth, after the Dec. 3 launch of SES-8.

Built by Orbital Sciences Corp. and weighing about 7,300 pounds at launch, Thaicom 6 will provide satellite television service to South and Southeast Asia and southern Africa.