spacetoday.net: Falcon 9 launches GovSat-1

Posted: Sat, Feb 3, 2018, 5:39 PM ET (2239 GMT)
Falcon 9 launch of GovSat-1, January 2018 (SpaceX)

SpaceX successfully launched a communications satellite for Luxembourg Wednesday. The Falcon 9 lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 4:25 p.m. Eastern, after a technical glitch caused a one-day delay. The payload, the GovSat-1 satellite, was released into its transfer orbit 33 minutes after liftoff. The Orbital ATK-built satellite is a joint venture of SES and the government of Luxembourg, and will provide secure communications over Europe, the Middle East and Africa, as well as parts of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. SpaceX did not attempt a landing of the rocket's first stage, which was making its second flight, but SpaceX CEO Elon Musk later tweeted a photo of the stage floating in the ocean after surviving a "very high retrothrust landing" test.