SpaceX Falcon 9 v1.1 Launch Status & Live Video

Launch window opens at 9:00 AM PDT (noon Eastern). They'll be trying to hit the beginning of the window, but delays are possible.

A few significant events after launch:

  T+01:18 -- max Q (highest aerodynamic pressure)
  T+02:43 -- first stage engines stop
  T+02:50 -- staging
  T+02:57 -- stage two ignition
  T+03:37 -- fairing around the payload jetissoned
  T+08:54 -- stage two engine cutoff
  T+14:15 -- payloads start to separate.

A lot of this is new hardware. This is the first flight for "Falcon 9 1.1", which features new engines, stretched tanks, and a complete rework of the structural truss that mates them together. It's also the first flight for the fairing, which has to hold together against high Mach-number winds and then cleanly fall off on command. (It doesn't sound like much, but there have been several launches that lost payloads due to fairing problems. What makes rocket science hard is that anything that goes wrong, no matter how minor, can cost you the mission.)

Meanwhile, Orbital Sciences' Cygnus just got grabbed by the robotic arm and is berthing with the ISS: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/

(not to derail, it's just nice there's so much space stuff going on today).

Is this the first test of their return procedure when they are going to re-light the first stage after separation and fly it over the ocean and "land" it in the water?