UPDATE: SpaceX SES-9 mission scheduled now set for Friday March 4th at 6:35 PM EST

UPDATE: The SES-9 launch has been scrubbed several times due to a variety of different issues - ranging from a fuel loading issue, to weather conditions, to marine traffic in the 1st stage landing zone.   The launch is currently scheduled for the same launch window (starting at 6:35 PM EST) on Friday, March 4th.

SpaceX is taking another step towards returning to a normal launch schedule with the launch today of the SES-9 mission. The mission goal is to deploy an SES communications satellite into GTO (Geostationary Transfer Orbit).

There is a generous 90 minute launch window, with a backup window starting at 6:46 pm EST tomorrow (February 25).

Mission details are available in the SpaceX Press Kit, and will be webcast as usual here.

As this is a GTO mission, the first stage recovery attempt be to the “Of Course I Still Love You” droneship. The nature of the mission does not allow for a return to the Cape Canaveral landing site, and a successful landing at sea has not yet been achieved, and is also not expected to succeed with this mission profile. However, every attempt provides more experience and data to allow SpaceX to eventually make drone ship landings a possibility for those missions where it is required.