SpaceX launches Falcon 9 rocket carrying communications satellite

It included the Falcon 9's largest ever payload, the Hispasat 30W-6 communications satellite, which is "almost the size of a city bus". The aerospace company hopes to launch a fleet of more than 1,000 satellites as part its planned space-based internet system.

Commenting on its launch, Carlos Espinós, CEO of Hispasat, said: "this new satellite will allow us to meet the growing connectivity demand detected in the market".

Following take-off, the satellite would be deployed just under 33 minutes later, after which the first stage of Falcon 9 would fall back to Earth. In that duration, the Falcon 9 placed the Spanish satellite in GTO at an altitude of around 37,000 km above the Earth. It will hover above the planet's surface and provide "television, broadband, corporate networks and other telecommunications solutions", SpaceX said in a press kit for the mission.

Less than two weeks after launching out of California, SpaceX is ready to fly its next Falcon 9 rocket, this time from Florida.

SpaceX successfully launched another rocket into orbit from the Space Coast early Tuesday.

Rough seas prevented SpaceX from attempting to land the Falcon 9's first-stage booster, which was expected to be destroyed when it splashed down in 26-foot waves.

The company tends to refer to all three versions as one extended family, taking the total number of missions to 50 with the latest launch. It is the 50 time that a Falcon 9 rocket has been launched since their first voyage in 2010.

Musk's company reached another milestone with the flight, launching its 50th Falcon 9 from the same launch pad that hosted the maiden flight nearly eight years ago.

"We look forward to using Hispasat 30W-6 to expand our service offerings and capacity in the covered regions". But SpaceX needed to do more tests to make sure the rocket's payload fairing, the shield that protects the payload shortly after launch, was properly pressurized, according to SpaceFlightNow.