Welcome to the r/SpaceX SES-9 Official Launch Discussion & Updates Thread!

Liftoff of SpaceX's Falcon 9 v1.1 Full Thrust is currently scheduled for 23:46:14 UTC (6:46:14 PM EST) on February 24, the beginning of a 97-minute launch window. This mission will deliver the SES-9 communications satellite to a Geostationary Transfer Orbit for Luxembourg-based SES. Should any issues prevent a launch today, the backup date is tomorrow (February 25th) with the same window.

SpaceX will attempt to land the Falcon 9 first stage on their Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship Of Course I Still Love You, but the odds of a successful recovery are low. In order to make up for launch delays, SpaceX has modified the flight profile to allow SES-9 to reach geostationary orbit as soon as possible. This means that the usual boostback burn won't be performed, and the ASDS will be located approximately 600 km downrange of Cape Canaveral.

The weather forecast for Wednesday's launch is 60% "go" with strong winds and clouds expected. On Monday night, SpaceX successfully conducted a static fire test of the Falcon 9 that will deliver SES-9 to GTO.

Watching the launch live

To watch the launch live, pick your preferred streaming provider from the table below:

SpaceX Stats Live (Webcast + Live Updates)
SpaceX Webcast (Livestream)
SpaceX Full Webcast (YouTube)
SpaceX Technical Webcast (YouTube)

Official Live Updates

Time	Update
Paused	Today's scrub may have been due to a ground support equipment issue. We'll have a new launch thread posted for tomorrow's attempt soon.
Paused	SpaceX: Team opting to hold launch for today. Looking to try again tomorrow; window also opens at 6:46pm ET. Rocket and spacecraft remain healthy.
T-34m 22s	SCRUB. No launch today. Will try again at the same time tomorrow.
T-54m 53s	We might be looking at some slight weather delays.
T-1h	One hour until liftoff!
T-2h 20m	SpaceX: Weather still 60% go for today's launch. Tracking thick clouds & winds. Webcast at 6:30pm ET
T-2h 44m	Blustery winds but some blue sky at Cape Canaveral inside 3 hours to opening of Falcon-9/#SES9 launch window at 6:46pm ET.
T-2h 57m	Radio checks and FTS (Flight Termination System) tests should be occurring now.
T-3h 11m	There are currently no technical issues being worked. Everything is progressing smoothly toward an on-time liftoff.
T-3h 47m	Landing site weather shows waves of 1.8 meters, wind speed of 2.0 m/s, and gusts up to 3.0 m/s.
T-6h 47m	Weather remains 60% "go," wind gusts and thick clouds remain the primary concern.
T-11h 44m	SpaceX SES-9 backup is Thursday at 6:46:17 EST
T-12h 6m	Here's a more complete video of Martin Halliwell's mission briefing.
T-12h 25m	SES-9 flight timeline from Spaceflight Now.
T-14h 1m	SES now asking for selfies on Twitter now...
T-16h 37m	Here's an image of what Falcon is lifting into the skies tomorrow: the 5,300kg SES-9 satellite, the heaviest GTO (Geostationary Transfer Orbit) bird ever flown by SpaceX.
T-19h 48m	Trip Harriss, Manager of Falcon Recovery: To-do list for tomorrow's SES launch.
T-23h 57m	T-24 hours and counting to the launch of SES-9!
T-1d 1h	Weather remains 60% go for tomorrow's launch attempt. Window opens at 6:46pm ET.
T-1d 2h	SES-9 mission briefing from Martin Halliwell, CTO of SES.
T-1d 6h	SpaceX on tomorrow night's launch and sea-landing attempt: "Given this mission’s unique GTO (Geostationary Transfer Orbit) profile, a successful landing is not expected"
T-1d 6h	SES' Martin Halliwell: SES would have no problem flying reused Falcon first stage; jokes the company hopes to fly same rocket twice.
T-1d 6h	The Falcon 9 upper stage will burn for a few more seconds than initially was planned to lift SES-9 to higher orbit, cut days to GEO in half.
T-1d 6h	SES has clarified that profile adjustment made to upcoming launch had no bearing on F9 booster recovery; only impacts upper stage burn.
T-1d 6h	Some beautiful new photos of Falcon 9 on the pad have been added to SpaceX's Flickr page.
T-1d 7h	The official press kit is up now! Link below.
T-1d 8h	Official launch weather forecast (PDF) is available here. Currently showing a 60% chance of acceptable weather on the 24th, increasing to 80% on the 25th.

The Mission

The sole passenger on this flight is SES-9 a communications satellite based on the Boeing 702HP satellite bus with a launch mass of 5,721 kg. SES-9 will use both chemical and electrical propulsion, the former to raise its orbit after separation from the Falcon 9 upper stage and the latter to circularize its orbit and perform station-keeping throughout its 15-year lifespan. The satellite will occupy the 108.2 ° East orbital slot, where it will be co-located with SES-7 and NSS-11, providing additional coverage to Asia and the Indian Ocean.

This will be the 22nd Falcon 9 launch and the second of the v1.1 Full Thrust configuration (the first being ORBCOMM-2 in December of 2015) and SpaceX’s heaviest GTO mission to date. This is SpaceX's second launch of 2016 as they begin to ramp up their flight rate, with an eventual goal of launching "every two or three weeks."

First Stage Landing Attempt

SpaceX will attempt a first stage landing on their Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship named Of Course I Still Love You, which will be located approximately 600 km East of Cape Canaveral. Around three minutes after liftoff, the first stage will shut down and separate from the upper stage. Because of the demanding flight profile, the first stage won't perform a boostback burn and will instead continue along a ballistic trajectory, reorienting itself for re-entry using cold-gas thrusters. After performing a reentry burn to slow down as it impacts the dense lower atmosphere, the stage will steer itself towards the drone ship using grid fins. If all goes as planned, the stage will perform a final landing burn and touchdown on the drone ship approximately 10 minutes after liftoff.

This will be SpaceX's fourth drone ship landing attempt. Past attempts occurred during the CRS-5, CRS-6, and Jason-3 missions. Note that first stage recovery is a secondary objective and has no bearing on primary mission success.

Useful Resources, Data, ?, & FAQ

• Hazard Location Map for SES-9, courtesy u/delta_alpha_november
• SES-9 Trajectory simulation, courtesy u/TheVehicleDestroyer
• SpaceX Stats SES-9 Launch Countdown, courtesy u/EchoLogic
• List of useful Twitter accounts to follow, courtesy r/SpaceX
• Live auto-updating reddit stream, .
• SES-9 Multistream, courtesy u/kampar
• Official SES-9 Press Kit (PDF), courtesy SpaceX

Participate in the discussion!

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• Please post small launch updates, discussions, and questions here, rather than as a separate post. Thanks!

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