14 DAY TRIAL // After experiencing a series of glitches that prompted a couple of delays, the Falcon 9 medium-lift delivery system developed by Hawthorne, California-based Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) successfully blasted off into space on Tuesday, December 3.
The rocket carried with it the 3,138-kilogram (6,918-pound) SES-8 communications satellite, which is SpaceX's first commercial payload. Blastoff occurred at 5:41 pm EST (2241 GMT), from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS), in Florida.
After leaving Earth's atmosphere, the delivery system successfully injected the spacecraft into its planned geostationary transfer orbit. SES-8 will spend the next few weeks boosting its altitude until it reaches the correct coordinates, Space reports.
SpaceX is developing the Falcon 9 rocket as a carrier vehicle for its Dragon spacecraft. At this point, only unmanned version of the capsule flew to space, to rendezvous with the International Space Station. A manned version of the spacecraft is scheduled to launch NASA astronauts into low-Earth orbit within the next couple of years.