Live coverage: Falcon 9 disintegrates after launch

The U.S. Air Force announced Tuesday that SpaceX is now eligible to compete for launches of U.S. national security satellites, closing a tumultuous chapter in the U.S. rocket industry and ending the Pentagon’s sole reliance on United Launch Alliance to haul military payloads into orbit.

The SpainSat NG 2 satellite will be flown to a geosynchronous transfer orbit. Liftoff happened at 9:30 p.m. EDT (0130 UTC).

SpaceX launched twin satellites for NASA Wednesday that will study how the electrically-charged solar wind interacts with Earth’s magnetic field, creating constantly changing and occasionally dangerous “space weather” affecting satellites, electrical grids and other critical systems.