Falcon 9 rocket launch on Wednesday into orbit a communications satellite SES-9 – RIA Novosti

© AP Photo / NASA / Bill Ingalls

WASHINGTON, February 24 -. RIA Novosti SpaceX company plans to launch communication satellite SES-9.

The launch will carry a booster Falcon 9 with komosdroma at Cape Canaveral (Florida). Start “window” opens at 2:46 MSK, and closes at 4:23 MSK on 25 February. The probability of favorable weather for the launch is 60%. If you start on Wednesday canceled, repeat attempt on Thursday. Monday was carried out full fire test of the Falcon 9 rocket, the results of which were confirmed by the date of launch of the satellite SES-9.

The satellite, owned by the SES satellite operator, will be placed in geostationary orbit. The device, created by Boeing, is designed to serve the needs of providing communication signals in North-East Asia and Indonesia, as well as provide a link between the vessels in the Indian Ocean. It is planned that the satellite will begin work in September, when it reaches its working position in orbit at a distance of approximately 36,000 kilometers above the Earth’s equator.

The launch was due to the device take place more than six months ago, but the collapse in June of Falcon 9 rocket at sending cargo to the ISS postponed it. For satellite could as soon as possible to enter the operating position and begin work, it was decided to bring it to a higher orbit.

As reported by referring to the SpaceX portal SpaceFlight Now, in addition to the launch of the satellite company will attempt to fit the first stage rocket on a floating platform in the Atlantic Ocean 650 kilometers from the launch site. In December, SpaceX was able to land vertically first stage of the rocket back to Earth, but as long as all three attempts to put it on a floating barge ended in failure. The SpaceX note that the chances of a successful landing SpaceX rocket on Wednesday also low, because the decision on putting the satellite into a higher orbit will result in the fact that after the separation of the first stage of the rocket will return to Earth with a higher than necessary speed.

In June 2015 Falcon 9 crashed when running Dragon space truck with a cargo to the ISS. In January, the company resumed SpaceX launches rocket successfully launched communications satellites for the company Orbcomm, and then sensing satellite global sea level Jason-3.