SpaceX flies its 11th rocket of the year [Updated]

Enlarge / Launch of the OTV-5 mission last September by the Falcon 9 rocket. The first stage is back on the launch pad Sunday for its second flight. (credit: SpaceX)

Updated post: Shortly after midnight, local time, SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral. It then flew a nominal mission and deployed the SES-12 into a geostationary transfer orbit. The company's 11th mission of 2018 is successfully in the books.

Original story: SpaceX will go for its 11th successful launch of the year early on Monday, with a mission to send a communications satellite into geostationary transfer orbit. The launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, has a four-hour window that opens at 12:29am ET (04:29 UTC). The weather appears favorable, with a 70-percent chance of "go" conditions.

This flight will use the Falcon 9 first stage rocket that first launched the US Air Force's X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle on its fifth mission last September. (This spacecraft, OTV-5, remains in orbit about 300km above the Earth's surface. The Air Force has not said what this mini, uncrewed space shuttle is doing.)

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