Live coverage: SpaceX supply ship returns to Earth

Rocket Lab announced Saturday it will hold off launching an Electron rocket on an orbital test flight until early 2018 as officials face the end of a 10-day pre-approved launch window, after a series of scrubs to ensure the booster is ready for liftoff and wait for ideal weather conditions.

SpaceX disclosed neither the payload nor the customer for this mission but hours after the launch Israel Aerospace Industries said it the Falcon 9 carried its Dror 1 communications satellite. Liftoff occurred at 1:04 a.m. EDT (0504 UTC).

Boeing and SpaceX hope to launch commercial crew ferry ships on long-awaited test flights later this year, but both companies face major challenges getting the spacecraft certified before late 2019 when seats aboard Russian Soyuz spacecraft will no longer be easily available for NASA space station crews, officials told lawmakers Wednesday.