Photos: Atlas 5 rocket aims for International Space Station

SpaceX launched the first full-scale Starship and Super Heavy rocket from South Texas at 8:33 a.m. CDT (9:33 a.m. EDT; 1333 UTC Thursday). The nearly 40-story-tall rocket, the largest ever built, lifted off from the Starbase launch complex and flew downrange before veering out of control and exploding about four minutes into the flight.

Follow the unclassified portion of the Atlas 5 rocket’s ascent to space from California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base launch site with the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office’s NROL-79 satellite payload. Launch is scheduled for Wednesday at 9:50 a.m. local time (12:50 p.m. EST; 1750 GMT).

Ready for a resupply run to the International Space Station, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket was raised vertical at Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad Wednesday ahead of a planned liftoff with more than 5,700 pounds of science experiments and crew supplies.