Falcon 9 launches SES-8 on its first GTO mission

12/3/13 ~ 5:41 p.m.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully launches on its first geosynchronous transfer orbit mission with the SES-8
communications satellite for SES World Skies. The launch is the second, and first from Florida, of the new, much taller
224-foot Falcon 9 version 1.1. Liftoff occured just 15 minutes after sunset from Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral.