Photos: Atlas 5 rocket soars from West Coast

SpaceX’s 40th launch of the year sent another batch of 52 Starlink internet satellites into orbit from Cape Canaveral early Monday aboard a Falcon 9 rocket.

With as few as 15 more launches on the calendar over the next five years, the rocket name “Delta” that has been serving the U.S. and international customers since 1960 could permanently fade into history.

SpaceX launched an unpiloted Crew Dragon spacecraft aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center at 10:30 a.m. EST (1530 GMT) Sunday. SpaceX triggered an escape maneuver using the Dragon’s thrusters about a minute-and-a-half after liftoff to verify the launch abort engines can safely carry the capsule — and astronauts on future missions — away from a failing rocket.