Photos: Falcon takes flight

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 11:02 p.m. PDT Tuesday (2:02 a.m. EDT; 0602 UTC Wednesday) with another batch of 52 Starlink internet satellites.

This was the third satellite launched by SpaceX for the broadcast radio corporation. Liftoff from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center happened at the opening of the 90-minute launch window at 11:10 a.m. EST (1610 UTC).

A prototype rocket for a massive reusable vehicle SpaceX is designing to fly people to the moon and Mars took off from a launching stand in South Texas on Tuesday, flew to a height of roughly 500 feet, then made a controlled descent to a nearby landing pad.