Photos: Falcon takes flight

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch an Intelsat communications satellite with a NASA-funded air pollution monitor to be positioned over the Americas in 2022, officials announced Tuesday.

SpaceX is set to end a two-month launch drought at Cape Canaveral with a blastoff Thursday night carrying a privately-funded Israeli moon lander, an Indonesian communications satellite and a U.S. Air Force surveillance payload into orbit.

SpaceX launched its first mission of 2020 on Monday night from Cape Canaveral. A Falcon 9 rocket carried 60 satellites into orbit for SpaceX’s Starlink Internet network.