CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the SES-12 spacecraft blasted off early Monday from Cape Canaveral.
The 12,000-pound SES-12 spacecraft, built by Airbus Defence and Space, will deliver high-speed data across Asia and the Pacific. The satellite, along with SES-8, will reach 18 million TV homes, according to SES.
The liftoff was originally scheduled for Friday but was delayed a couple of days for additional testing.
The Falcon 9’s booster previously launched the U.S. Air Force’s secretive X-37B spacecraft last summer.
SES was the first company to fly a spacecraft on a used Falcon 9 rocket booster. The launch of SES-10 in March 2017 was a big milestone for SpaceX, which has been working toward reusable rockets for 15 years before successfully launching a recovered first-stage rocket.
SpaceX won’t land the booster again, as the company is trying to phase out the Block 4 rockets for the new Block 5 configuration. SpaceX may try to recover the Falcon 9 fairings at sea, which make up the rocket’s nose cone, where the payload is encased.