Prior to this flight, SpaceX's two previous attempts at a vertical landing and booster recovery ended in failure to recover the rocket.

[13] On 16 October 2015, after considering all options, SpaceX announced a change: Orbcomm's 11 OG2 satellites would be the payload on the return-to-flight launch of the redesigned Falcon 9 instead of SES-9.

[14] The launch was subsequently delayed an additional day after statistical analysis indicated a somewhat higher probability of recovering the booster on the later date.

[17] Falcon 9 Flight 20 carried 11 Orbcomm-OG2 second-generation satellites,[12] which will provide enhanced ORBCOMM messaging capabilities, increased data capacity, and automatic identification systems (AIS) service.

[28] Rather, the rocket was moved a few miles north to Launch Pad 39A, recently refurbished by SpaceX at the adjacent Kennedy Space Center, to conduct a static fire test.

This test aimed to assess the health of the recovered booster and the capability of this rocket design to fly repeatedly in the future.

[32] On 15 January 2016, SpaceX conducted the static fire test on the recovered booster, obtaining good overall results except for one of the outer engines experiencing thrust fluctuations.

[33][34] In February 2016, SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell indicated that some unspecified modifications to the stage design would occur as a result of the booster's post-flight evaluation and static fire.

[37] The Atlantic technology editor Robinson Meyer called the scripted broadcast "a way of treating a rocket launch not like a dry engineering procedure, but like some combination of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Super Bowl".