Enlarge / The booster on the launch pad in Florida for a launch attempt Tuesday first flew in May, 2017. (credit: SpaceX)

SpaceX began its launch campaign this year on January 7, with liftoff of the highly classified Zuma payload for the US government. Although it is not official, multiple sources have said the mission failed to reach orbit. SpaceX has said its rocket performed nominally despite any failure, and the Air Force has backed the company up on that assertion.

Perhaps the biggest vote of confidence in the company is that, less than four weeks later, it is prepared to launch again. On Tuesday in Florida, during a launch window from 4:25pm ET to 6:46pm ET, a Falcon 9 rocket will attempt to launch a satellite to geostationary transfer orbit for public-private partnership between the Luxembourg Government and SES. The GovSat-1/SES-16 satellite will be used for NATO communications as well as commercial purposes.

This is the sixth time SpaceX has launched a used rocket. The core for this mission has previously flown once, in May 2017, to launch the  NROL-76 mission. Although the rocket will have enough propellant to try a landing after pushing the four-ton satellite into its orbit, SpaceX will not attempt to recover the booster. This is partly because the “Of Course I Still Love You” drone ship will be needed for the Falcon Heavy launch next week.