A Falcon-9 launcher took off from Cape Canaveral in Florida at 23:04 Belgian time. The first stage returned to Earth, landing a mere nine minutes after lift-off on the Just Read the Instructions droneship bobbing off the coast of Florida in the Atlantic Ocean. It was the seventh time that this staircase was launched and successfully returned.
The second stage eventually put the entrained Nilesat-301 into geostationary transfer orbit 33 minutes after launch. The 4.1-ton artificial satellite is now setting course under its own power for its operational orbit, at an altitude of about 35,800 km at 7 degrees west longitude.
The satellite was built by Thales Alenia Space in France. Owner is Nilesat, a company controlled by Egyptian government organizations.
It was already the 23rd launch of SpaceX this year. But the first to geostationary orbit.