Live coverage: Falcon 9 disintegrates after launch

NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite has arrived at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for final testing, fueling and attachment to a Falcon 9 launcher for liftoff in mid-April, a delay of nearly one month to allow SpaceX additional time to prepare the rocket for the mission.

With this launch, SpaceX is now one flight shy of tying the total number of Space Shuttle missions from this historic launch pad. This was the 81st flight of a Falcon rocket compared to the 82 total shuttle flights. Liftoff of the Starlink 6-51 mission happened at 5:26 p.m. EDT (2126 UTC).

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off Monday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, then the launcher’s first stage returned to landing at nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station after sending a Dragon supply ship toward a rendezvous with the International Space Station.