Video: Falcon 9 hot fire

The launch came as SpaceX is also preparing to launch a Cygnus spacecraft to the International Space Station over the weekend. Liftoff of the Starlink 10-6 mission happened at 1:01 a.m. EDT (0501 UTC).

The first upgraded Falcon 9 rocket, known as the ‘Block 5’, takes flight from launch complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center on 11 May 2018.

Construction is complete on the first batch of 81 new satellites to overhaul Iridium’s mobile communications network, and the data relay stations will soon head from their factory near Phoenix to California’s hilly Central Coast for launch Sept. 11 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.