Live coverage: Falcon 9 disintegrates after launch

SpaceX successfully launched an oft-delayed Falcon 9 rocket mission at 6:35 p.m. EST (2335 GMT) Friday after more than a week of delays caused by issues with super-chilled liquid oxygen propellant, a boat the strayed into restricted waters offshore Cape Canaveral, and extreme upper level winds. The experimental recovery of the first stage on an ocean-going barge was not a success.

SpaceX’s Crew Dragon “Resilience” spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket — stretching 215 feet long — are ready for rollout to pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in preparation for the launch of four astronauts Saturday night to the International Space Station.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket exploded in the final minutes of a simulated countdown at Cape Canaveral on Thursday, destroying the booster and an Israeli communications satellite valued at nearly $200 million.