Photos: Atlas 5 rocket aims for International Space Station

Range personnel at Cape Canaveral will employ physical distancing, face covers and other cautionary measures to reduce the risk of spreading the coronavirus during launch operations, the commander of the U.S. military’s 45th Space Wing said. But the next launch from Cape Canaveral has been postponed from Thursday until no earlier than next week, sources said. SpaceX is planning to fire off a Falcon 9 rocket with the next batch of Starlink Internet satellites.

A three-person crew heading for the International Space Station took off Wednesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and arrived in orbit around nine minutes later, beginning a two-day pursuit of the research outpost.

The 27 Kuiper satellites will head to low Earth orbit on an Atlas 5 rocket flying in a 551 configuration, using five solid rocket boosters. ULA has not announced a new launch date following the scrub.