Live coverage: Space station robot arm captures Dragon supply ship

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched Feb. 22 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California with the Spanish Paz radar observation satellite and two prototypes for a planned broadband Internet network.

The Starlink 17-5 mission will add another 24 broadband satellites to the company’s constellation of more than 8,100 currently in orbit. SpaceX is targeting liftoff from pad 4E at 9:26 a.m. PDT (12:26 p.m. EDT / 1626 UTC).

SpaceX launched twin satellites for NASA Wednesday that will study how the electrically-charged solar wind interacts with Earth’s magnetic field, creating constantly changing and occasionally dangerous “space weather” affecting satellites, electrical grids and other critical systems.