Live coverage: Falcon 9 disintegrates after launch

SpaceX hopes to take a giant leap forward in rocket technology a few minutes after Friday’s scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 booster taking up 2.5 tons of critical supplies and experiments to the International Space Station.

SpaceX test-fired a Falcon 9 rocket Tuesday at Cape Canaveral for the company’s next launch, which is set for takeoff Monday at around 9:56 a.m. EST (1456 GMT). The rocket will launch with the next batch of SpaceX’s Starlink broadband satellites, the company’s first launch since early August. There is an 80 percent chance of favorable weather for launch Monday.

The Starlink 12-15 mission is SpaceX’s 60th Falcon 9 launch of 2025. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is targeting no earlier than Tuesday, May 20.