Live coverage: Delta 2 launches

Turkmenistan’s first satellite has blasted off aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida after a weather delay. Liftoff occurred at 7:03 p.m. EDT (2303 GMT).

SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket Friday at 5:39 p.m. EDT (2139 GMT). The commercial booster is hauling up the Thaicom 8 television broadcasting satellite from Cape Canaveral. The rocket’s first stage successfully landed on SpaceX’s recovery platform in the Atlantic Ocean.

The U.S. Air Force on Thursday demolished towers once used to assemble Delta 2 rockets at Cape Canaveral for missions to Mars, four dozen flights to deploy the GPS navigation network, and numerous launches with scientific, commercial and military payloads.