The first flight of SpaceX’s Dragon capsule

After several near-misses in tries to catch payload shrouds jettisoned from Falcon 9 rockets climbing into space, a high-speed boat tasked with retrieving the fairings for SpaceX to reuse has been upgraded and dispatched into the Pacific Ocean ahead of a launch Wednesday from Vandenberg Air Force in California.

The mission came shortly after announcing they crossed 5 million subscribers to the Starlink internet service. Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station happened on Sunday, March 2, at 9:24 p.m. EST (0224 UTC on March 3).

Crew Dragon, meet Falcon 9. SpaceX has released photos showing the Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket that will carry NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken aloft next week.