Q&A with Elon Musk after SpaceX’s first rocket landing

NASA said Saturday that the launch of four astronauts on SpaceX’s first operational Crew Dragon mission to the International Space Station has been delayed from Oct. 31 until “no sooner than early-to-mid November,” allowing time for SpaceX to resolve an issue with Falcon 9 rocket engines that halted a recent launch attempt with a GPS navigation satellite.

Overcoming a dynamic and stormy weather pattern in Central Florida, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral with the Israeli-owned Amos 17 commercial communications satellite Tuesday at 7:23 p.m. EDT (2323 GMT).

Construction is complete on the first batch of 81 new satellites to overhaul Iridium’s mobile communications network, and the data relay stations will soon head from their factory near Phoenix to California’s hilly Central Coast for launch Sept. 11 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.