CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — SpaceX has launched a satellite for Bangladesh using an upgraded rocket designed for dozens of repeat flights.

This latest version of the Falcon 9 blasted off Friday from Florida's Kennedy Space Center. It carried up the first satellite belonging to Bangladesh. The communication satellite is named Bangabandhu-1 after the country's founding father.

SpaceX chief Elon Musk says the improved first-stage boosters can be reused more than 10 times — even 100 — and require little or no prep work. His goal is to launch the same booster twice within 24 hours, perhaps next year. That's how the company intends to shave launch costs.

This newest booster landed on an ocean platform following liftoff. It will be dissected before flying again in a few months. </s> Nasa’s next planet-hunter, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), successfully launching on a SpaceX Falcon 9 on April 18, 2018 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Photo: HANDOUT / NASA TV / AFP

TAMPA – SpaceX on Friday blasted off its newest and most powerful Falcon 9 rocket, known as the Block 5, carrying the first high-orbit communications satellite for Bangladesh and marking a leap forward in re-usability for the California-based aerospace company.

The rocket is designed to require far less maintenance and refurbishment between flights, and is certified to carry humans to space later this year when SpaceX launches its Dragon crew capsule to the International Space Station.

"Three, two one, zero, ignition, liftoff," a SpaceX commentator said as the rocket launched at 4:14 pm (2014 GMT) from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The Block 5 Falcon 9 rocket's main goal for its maiden mission was to propel a communications satellite for Bangladesh, called Bangabandhu Satellite-1, to a geostationary transfer orbit roughly 22,000 miles (35,000 kilometres) above Earth.

"In the continuous advancement of Bangladesh another milestone is added today," said Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in a video address aired on SpaceX's launch webcast.

"With the launch of Bangabandhu-1, we are hoisting our national flag into space."

The satellite will offer video and communications coverage over Bangladesh and its territorial waters in the Bay of Bengal, as well as in India, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and Indonesia.

"The satellite will also provide broadband connectivity to rural areas throughout the country," said a SpaceX statement, noting that the mission is expected to last at least 15 years.

About a half hour after launch, live images showed the satellite drifting into the inky blackness of space, as cheers and screams erupted at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California.

"Successful deployment of Bangabandhu Satellite-1 to geostationary transfer orbit," SpaceX said on Twitter.

The launch was postponed at the last minute Thursday when an automatic abort switch was triggered, but SpaceX said it was just a glitch and the spacecraft remained in good health.

The rocket is built to re-fly up to 10 times with minimal refurbishment, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk told reporters ahead of the launch.

"We expect there would be literally no action taken between flights, so just like aircraft," Musk said, describing the many years of effort that went into the rocket as "crazy hard."

After liftoff, the rocket made a successful upright landing on the "Of Course I Still Love You" droneship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean, marking the 25th successful touchdown for SpaceX.

SpaceX has now landed 11 of its boosters on land and 14 on its droneships, which are floating platforms in the ocean, as part of its effort to bring down the cost of spaceflight and re-use costly rocket parts.

The first crew launch for SpaceX is tentatively planned for December 2018.

It will mark the first time since the end of the US space shuttle program in 2011 that a rocket has left US soil carrying people to space. </s> CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - SpaceX is targeting the launch of a rocket carrying the Bangabandhu Satellite-1 from the Kennedy Space Center at 5:47 p.m. </s> [CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida] An updated version of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, tailored for eventual crewed missions for Nasa, made its debut launch on Friday from Florida's Cape Canaveral carrying a communications satellite for Bangladesh into orbit.

The newly minted Block-5 edition of the Falcon 9 - equipped with about 100 upgrades for greater power, safety and reusability than its Block-4 predecessor - lifted off at 4.14pm EDT (2014 GMT) from the Kennedy Space Center.

Minutes later, the rocket's main-stage booster flew itself back to Earth to achieve a safe return landing on an unmanned platform vessel floating in the Pacific Ocean.

The recoverable Block-5 booster is designed to be reused at least 10 times with minimal refurbishment between flights, allowing more frequent launches at lower cost - a key to the SpaceX business model.

Enhanced rocket reusability also is a core tenet of SpaceX owner and billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk's broader objectives of making space travel commonplace and ultimately sending humans to Mars.

SpaceX has safely return-landed 24 of its boosters and reflown 11 of them.

Friday's flight marked the ninth SpaceX launch so far this year, compared to five orbital-class missions the company had logged at the same point in 2017, according to Musk.

It came a day after the original launch countdown was halted one minute before blastoff time due to a technical problem detected by the rocket's onboard computers. Friday's second attempt by SpaceX, formally known as Space Exploration Technologies, appeared to have gone off without a hitch.

The rocket's payload, the Bangladeshi government's first communications satellite, Bangabandhu-1, was placed into Earth orbit at 4.47pm EDT, just 33 minutes after launch, according to SpaceX.

The achievement was hailed by Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in a livestream appearance from her country's capital, Dhaka.

"Today is a very delightful and glorious day for our motherland, Bangladesh, and Bangalee nation," she said. "With launching of Bangabandhu Satellite-1, we are hoisting our national flag in the space."

The Block-5 also marks another milestone for Mr Musk's California-based company. It is expected to be the first SpaceX vehicle to satisfy Nasa's standards for its Commercial Crew Program to carry agency astronauts to the International Space Station. Nasa requires seven successful flights before the new rocket receives final certification for a manned mission.

Besides missions to the space station, the new rocket will be used to launch US Air Force global positioning satellites and other high-value, military and national security payloads.

Block-5 marks the final version of the Falcon 9 lineup before SpaceX introduces its super heavy-lift launch vehicle, dubbed the Big Falcon Rocket, or BFR, which will be designed to send manned missions to Mars.

SpaceX is one of two private companies hired by Nasa to ferry astronaut crews to the space station. The other is Boeing Co. </s> SpaceX's first-ever Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket thunders toward space carrying the Bangabandhu-1 satellite on May 11, 2018. SpaceX/YouTube

On Friday, Elon Musk and his rocket company, SpaceX, successfully launched the most advanced Falcon 9 rocket to date, called a Falcon 9 Block 5, then landed its giant booster on a ship at sea.

The launch came after an aborted attempt on Thursday, when flight computers automatically aborted the mission due to a relay glitch. The company resolved the problem and successfully launched on Friday.

Musk says the Block 5 is the final major version of the company's workhorse launcher, and that the system is designed to be the " most reliable rocket ever built."

"I hope fate does not punish me for these words, but that is unequivocally the intent, and I think our most conservative customers would agree that is an accurate statement," Musk told reporters during a teleconference call on Thursday. "Please, fate, do not punish me for this — the intentions are good."

The rocket's 16-story booster landed on a drone ship at sea about 8 minutes after launch.

The upper stage, which continued into deep space, deployed the first geostationary communications satellite for Bangladesh, called Bangabandhu-1, around 4:47 p.m. ET.

Why the Bangabandhu-1 mission was so important for SpaceX

Bangabandhu Satellite-1, the first high-orbit communications satellite for Bangladesh. Thales Alenia Space

Thales Alenia Space, the company that designed and built Bangabandhu-1, said in a statement that the spacecraft is a "historical first satellite" for Bangladesh.

Bangabandhu-1 is expected to bring state-of-the-art phone, radio, TV, and internet service to the nation of more than 160 million people, as well as surrounding countries like Nepal, Myanmar, and Bhutan.

But the 23-story rocket carrying the satellite was the real star of the mission: the Falcon 9 Block 5 is the most powerful, most reusable, and most likely last version of SpaceX's workhorse orbital launcher.

SpaceX had previously launched 55 missions on a Falcon 9 since the rocket's debut in June 2010. But engineers have steadily improved the system over time, making it taller, stronger, less heavy, and more powerful.

SpaceX's first Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket rolls out to a launchpad in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Elon Musk/SpaceX via Instagram

The most important changes have been made to help the booster — which makes up about 60-70% of marginal launch costs, according to Musk — launch, land, and be relaunched. Those upgrades have involved the addition of avionics, fins, and landing legs.

All other orbital rockets in use today get used just once then are discarded in the ocean.

So far, SpaceX has only reused a Falcon 9 booster twice. With Falcon 9 Block 5, Musk hopes to expand that record to 10 launches for each new booster with only quick inspections needed between launches. With minor servicing and refurbishments, he said, the boosters could perhaps get reused 100 times or more.

Combined with other tricks to reuse parts of the rocket — primarily the fairing (the nosecone of the rocket) and the upper stage — he noted this could lower marginal launch costs to under $5-6 million.

"We expect this to be the mainstay for SpaceX business," Musk said of the new rocket.

The reason Musk has called Falcon 9 Block 5 the "final version" is that SpaceX's 6,000 employees are shifting nearly all of their engineering efforts to focus on the company's Big Falcon Rocket.

The two-stage BFR system is expected to be taller than the Statue of Liberty, deliver a 16-story spaceship into orbit, be fully reusable, and ferry 100 people and 150 tons of cargo to Mars. It will ultimately replace all other SpaceX rockets, as it will be cheaper to launch and reuse than any Falcon 9 — at least in theory.

SpaceX recently got a permit to begin constructing the first BFR spaceships in the Port of Los Angeles, about a dozen miles south of the company's headquarters. Musk hopes to begin test-launching the first BFR spaceships at SpaceX's Texas facilities early next year.

Rewatch the first Falcon 9 Block 5 launch on YouTube

Although the rocket lifted off at 4:14 p.m. ET, you can rewatch the entire SpaceX live broadcast below.

The booster lands on a droneship about 8 minutes after the launch.

About 25 minutes after that, the upper stage of the rocket deploys the Bangabandhu-1 satellite into orbit some 22,230 miles above Earth.

This story has been updated with new information. </s> CAPE CANAVERAL (CBSMiami/AP) — SpaceX has successfully launched a satellite for Bangladesh using an upgraded Falcon 9 rocket designed for dozens of repeat flights.

This latest version of the Falcon 9 blasted off Friday from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center 4:14 pm – a day later than originally planned.

The Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket, as the latest version is called, carried the Bangabandhu Satellite-1 into orbit. The satellite will provide TV, internet and other telecom services to Bangladesh and the surrounding region. It’s the first satellite belonging to Bangladesh. The communication satellite is named Bangabandhu-1 after the country’s founding father.

SpaceX chief Elon Musk says the improved first-stage boosters on the rocket can be reused more than 10 times — even 100 — and require little or no prep work. His goal is to launch the same booster twice within 24 hours, perhaps next year. That’s how the company intends to shave launch costs.

After launch, the first-stage booster of the rocket detached and guided itself back to Earth, where it landed safely on a platform, or drone ship, in the ocean so it can be flown once again on a future mission.

SpaceX has landed and reflown boosters many times before. But in the eight-year history of flying Falcon 9 rockets, SpaceX has only ever sent the same rocket to space twice.

This trip did not carry astronauts. Though the Falcon 9 Block 5 was designed with human spaceflight in mind, NASA will require seven successful flights of the Block 5, with no significant changes to the rocket’s configuration, before allowing humans on board.

The United States has not flown humans to space since 2011. That was the final year of NASA’s Space Shuttle program. </s> CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA (REUTERS) - SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying Spacecom's AMOS-17 communications satellite at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Tuesday (Aug 6).

The mission comes nearly three years after a launch pad explosion destroyed a different Israeli communications satellite (Spacecom's AMOS-6) in September 2016, Business Insider reported.

The satellite will provide increased connectivity across Africa by supporting a "growth in a variety of broadcast, broadband, mobility, and data services," according to a press release. </s> Watch live as SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket launches and attempts to deliver BulgariaSat-1 to a Geostationary Transfer Orbit. The launch is at Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. According to SpaceX, BulgariaSat-1 is the first geostationary communications satellite in Bulgaria’s history. The rocket, Falcon 9, will attempt a landing on the “Of Course I Still Love You” drone ship, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean, according to SpaceX. </s> CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., May 11 (Reuters) - An updated version of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, tailored for eventual crewed missions into orbit, made its debut launch on Friday from Florida's Cape Canaveral carrying a communications satellite for Bangladesh.

The newly minted Block-5 edition of the Falcon 9, equipped with about 100 upgrades for greater power, safety and reusability than its Block-4 predecessor, successfully lifted off at 4:14 p.m. EDT from the Kennedy Space Center. (Reporting by Joey Roulette in Cape Canaveral; Writing by Steve Gorman) </s> The sky over Cape Canaveral lit up just before 1 eastern time this morning as SpaceX conducted another successful launch and landing.

 After a more than one-hour weather delay, a Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 12:45 a.m. Eastern time and deployed a communications satellite into orbit.

 The satellite will provide broadband communications services to China, Mongolia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Ocean region.

 Minutes after the launch, the Falcon 9 booster landed on SpaceX’s drone ship, Of Course I Still Love You.

The Telstar 18V satellite will provide constant broadband communications services to the Asia-Pacific region, do you see satellite communication as the future for internet and phone service around the world?

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SpaceX launches Bangabandhu-1, Bangladesh's first geostationary communications satellite, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, United States.