Watch the Falcon 9 launch from pad 39A

The mission featured Luxembourg’s NAOS satellite along with seven other secondary satellites. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base at 11:53 a.m. PDT (2:53 p.m. EDT / 1853 UTC).

Crowned with a European-built communications satellite designed to broadcast television over the Americas, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with a previously-flown first stage booster lifted off Kennedy Space Center’s launch pad 39A Wednesday at 6:53 p.m. EDT (2253 GMT).

The head of the Russian space agency caused a stir last week when he said a hole drilled through the side of a Soyuz ferry ship docked to the International Space Station was the result of a deliberate act, “either on Earth or in space.” Station commander Drew Feustel said Tuesday it most certainly did not happen in orbit.