Live coverage: Falcon 9 soars into space with DSCOVR

United Launch Alliance and SpaceX beat out Northrop Grumman and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin for billions of dollars in U.S. military rocket contracts, and will share the load in launching the Pentagon’s highest-priority national security space missions through 2027, officials announced Friday.

SpaceX launched one Starlink mission from Florida but plans for a back-to-back overnight mission from the west coast were dashed after the Falcon 9 flying from Vandenberg Space Force Base California was delayed to Friday.

SpaceX’s launch of a cluster of communications satellites for Orbcomm, set for as soon as next weekend, holds the headlines, but the company’s Falcon 9 rocket could fly at least four times in the next two months, assuming smooth launch campaigns and no glitches.