Photos: Falcon takes flight

SpaceX continued its blistering pace of orbital launches with its ninth and final Starlink launch of August. Liftoff of its Falcon 9 rocket from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station happened at 7:49 a.m. EDT (1149 UTC).

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine on Thursday urged space enthusiasts not to travel to the Kennedy Space Center next month to view the first launch of astronauts from the Florida spaceport since 2011, and asked people to instead watch the launch on television or online.

SpaceX has launched its third Falcon 9 of the year. The rocket is carrying a pair of communications payloads for Eutelsat and Asia Broadcast Satellite.