Video: Launch camera replays from Friday’s Falcon 9 blastoff

SpaceX’s first Falcon Heavy rocket is expected to roll out to pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center for the first time next month for a hold-down firing of its 27 Merlin main engines, but the mega-rocket’s inaugural test launch will slip into January, officials confirmed Tuesday.

Running nearly two months late after technical concerns prevented liftoff last year, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket fired into the sky Sunday night from Cape Canaveral with a top secret payload for the U.S. government, the first of some 30 launches on the company’s docket in 2018.

The Falcon 9 rocket flew in a south-easterly trajectory once its lifts off from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base. The mission launched at 6:15 p.m. PDT (9:15 p.m. EDT, 0115 UTC).