Irene Klotz writes the Merlin engine-powered rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 5:41 p.m. EST carrying its 7,000-pound payload, the SES-8.
The SES-8 is a $100-million communications services satellite slated to provide television and broadband to SES customers in South Asia.
SpaceX intends to position the satellite into an elliptical orbit some 50,000 miles from Earth, from where the SES-8 will fly into its 22,369-mile high operational orbit, according to the report.