SpaceX Aims to Launch Satellite on Used Rocket Early Monday: Watch Live

SpaceX Launches X-37B Space Plane
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches the U.S. Air Force's robotic X-37B space plane on Sept. 7, 2017. The first stage of this same rocket is scheduled to help loft the SES-12 communications satellite on June 1, 2018. (Image credit: SpaceX)

SpaceX will launch a communications satellite early Monday morning (June 4), and you can watch the liftoff live.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with a used first stage is scheduled to lift off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 12:29 a.m. EDT (0429 GMT) Monday and carry the SES-12 satellite to orbit for the Luxembourg-based telecom company SES. You can watch the launch live here at Space.com, courtesy of SpaceX, or directly via SpaceX's website

The launch was originally scheduled for May 31, with SpaceX delaying it first to June 1 and then June 4 to perform extra rocket boooster checks

The first stage has flown once before, in September 2017, when it helped launch the robotic X-37B space plane for the U.S. government. The booster came back to Earth for a pinpoint landing shortly after that liftoff, but there will be no such downward action during the SES-12 mission: The first stage is part of the Falcon 9 "Block 4" build, an older variant that SpaceX is phasing out.

The company recently debuted the new "Block 5" Falcon 9, whose first stages are designed to fly 10 times with just inspections between landing and launch, and 100 times or more with some refurbishment involved, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk has said.

See more

Achieving such heavy reuse is the key breakthrough that will slash the cost of spaceflight and make ambitious exploration endeavors, such as the colonization of Mars, economically feasible, according to Musk.

Musk has also expressed a desire to reuse the two-stage Falcon 9's upper stage and its payload fairing, the nose cone that protects satellites during launch. But so far, it's just the first stages that have been landed and launched again. To date, SpaceX has landed such boosters 25 times and reflown them on a dozen occasions.

SES-12 is headed for geostationary orbit, about 22,300 miles (35,900 kilometers) above Earth's surface. It will provide video and data services to customers across the Asia-Pacific region, SES representatives said.

Editor's note: This story, posted May 31 in advance of the SpaceX's targeted June 1 launch, has been updated to include the launch delay to June 4 for SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and SES-12.

  Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com.

Mike Wall
Senior Space Writer

Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, "Out There," was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.