The booster was doing 14,000km/h at MECO which is about 3.8km/s. Orbital velocity is 7-7.5km/s depending on altitude and escape velocity is even higher, so no, it was not at escape velocity or anywhere near it.

Isn't orbit tracking trivial? Also, orbital velocity depends on altitude, so perhaps they are just going to a higher orbit.

> What they're doing with the second boost, they're not telling anyone.

This is a direct-to-GEO launch, and some of the payloads are public.

No, it was going 14,240km/hr according to the video, which is about 4km/sec. Not near escape velocity.