Photos: Falcon takes flight

SpaceX’s first Falcon Heavy rocket is set for liftoff Tuesday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and the heavy-lift launcher will head on an easterly course over the Atlantic Ocean atop nearly 5 million pounds of thrust.

The U.S. military’s X-37B spaceplane program will remain under Air Force management for the foreseeable future, and won’t join other Pentagon space programs turned over to the Space Force after the establishment of the new service branch last year.

The Starlink 10-32 mission saw a Falcon 9 rocket fly in a north-easterly trajectory after launching from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. SpaceX launched the mission at 9:30 a.m. EDT (1330 UTC).