Live coverage: Falcon 9 launches with Thai satellite and first stage lands at sea

A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 41 launch pad Sunday night with the European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter mission, a project developed in partnership with NASA. Launch occurred right on time at the opening of a two-hour window at 11:03 p.m. EST Sunday (0403 GMT Monday).

NASA expects to spend some $5 billion underwriting development of commercial spacecraft built by Boeing and SpaceX to carry astronauts to and from the space station, ending reliance on the Russians for crew flights and lowering the average cost per seat to around $58 million.

A Falcon 9 rocket launched from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center at 8:10 p.m. EST (0110 UTC). A second Falcon 9 is due to soar skyward from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California later tonight.