Apollo 11 launch as broadcast live by NASA on July 16, 1969

Launching into a clear autumn sky at sunset, a Falcon 9 rocket took off Wednesday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and delivered the SES 11/EchoStar 105 communications satellite to orbit.

The launch will be preceded by a company talk from Elon Musk, discussing SpaceX’s plans for developing the rocket for Mars exploration. Launch teams are targeting a liftoff from Pad A at Starbase, Texas, on Tuesday, May 27, at 6:30 p.m. CDT (7:30 p.m. EDT, 2330 UTC).

NASA and industry teams at Cape Canaveral launched an Orion capsule on a three-minute atmospheric test flight Tuesday to prove the spaceship’s ability to escape from an exploding rocket during launch, demonstrating a key safety feature before astronauts ride the vehicle into deep space. Liftoff occurred at 7 a.m. EDT (1100 GMT).