The first flight of SpaceX’s Dragon capsule

Nearly a decade after Orbcomm raised the money to pay for a second-generation satellite fleet to drastically expand the company’s reach, the $230 million program is finally primed for completion after Monday’s launch of a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral.

Bad weather offshore has forced SpaceX and NASA to delay Thursday’s planned launch of the Crew Dragon by a day. Better conditions are expected on Friday for a 5:49 a.m. EDT (0949 GMT) liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center.

SpaceX’s next Falcon 9 rocket was hydraulically hoisted vertical Sunday morning at launch pad 39A, less than 12 hours before a scheduled blastoff with the Intelsat 35e communications satellite.