Live coverage: SpaceX launches its fifth Falcon 9 flight of the year

Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East occurred at 4:06 p.m. PDT (7:06 p.m. EDT, 2306 UTC) on Monday, April 7.

An ocean-going cargo barge modified to serve as a landing pad for SpaceX’s Falcon 9 booster is set to depart the Port of Jacksonville for a journey into the Atlantic Ocean ahead of Friday’s launch of a space station cargo mission from Cape Canaveral.

SpaceX’s upgraded Falcon 9 booster powered up to full throttle in a brief ignition at the company’s Central Texas test site this week as engineers prepare for the rocket’s return to flight as soon as mid-November with a European communications satellite.