Live coverage of the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket flight to deploy NASA’s TDRS-M data relay satellite. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.
(Launch webcast begins at 7:30 a.m. EDT / 1130 GMT)
Falcon 9
Live coverage: SpaceX launches NRO payload, lands booster at Cape Canaveral
SpaceX’s final Falcon 9 launch of the year carried a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office, the U.S. government’s spy satellite agency. SpaceX aborted a launch attempt Thursday morning to assess a second stage sensor reading, but the Falcon 9 successfully lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center at 9 a.m. EST (1400 GMT) Saturday. The rocket’s stage landed back at Cape Canaveral eight minutes later.
Mission Reports
Live coverage: SLS core stage engines shut down early during critical hotfire test
A critical test-firing of the Space Launch System’s core stage engines cut off about a minute into a planned eight-minute burn Saturday on a test stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. The rocket’s four engines ignited at 5:27 p.m. EST (2227 GMT) for a test that was to pave the way for the core stage’s shipment to the Kennedy Space Center for launch preparations.