Live coverage: Falcon 9 disintegrates after launch

SpaceX and OneWeb — space industry rivals and owners of two of the largest fleets of commercial satellites — are set to add more spacecraft to their internet networks Wednesday with launches from Cape Canaveral and Russia.

SpaceX aims to re-launch the Falcon 9 booster Monday that catapulted astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken toward the International Space Station in May, this time carrying a South Korean military communications satellite while pursuing a record for the quickest turnaround time between flights of an orbital-class rocket stage.

The Starlink 17-9 mission added another 24 broadband satellites to its low Earth orbit constellation of more than 8,300. Liftoff from pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base happened at 11:06 a.m. PDT (2:06 p.m. EDT / 1806 UTC).