Live coverage: Falcon 9 disintegrates after launch

SpaceX disclosed neither the payload nor the customer for this mission but hours after the launch Israel Aerospace Industries said it the Falcon 9 carried its Dror 1 communications satellite. Liftoff occurred at 1:04 a.m. EDT (0504 UTC).

SpaceX’s Dragon supply ship, loaded with nearly 5,500 pounds of cargo and experiments, aborted an approach to the International Space Station on Wednesday after encountering a problem in its GPS navigation system.

Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi has traveled to the International Space Station on a space shuttle and a Russian capsule. He’s now gearing up to launch on a SpaceX Crew Dragon spaceship, becoming only the third person to launch from Earth into orbit on three different types of spacecraft.