Live video of launch pad 39A (members only)

Making its third try after back-to-back aborts, a Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched the commercial Intelsat 35e communications satellite Wednesday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Liftoff from launch pad 39A occurred at 7:38 p.m. EDT (2338 GMT).

NASA plans to shelve a robotic demonstration mission to refuel an aging Landsat Earth-imaging observatory and join forces with the private sector and a U.S. military research and development agency in a public-private partnership to commercialize satellite servicing technologies, according to language in the White House’s budget request released Tuesday.

This was SpaceX’s 51st Falcon 9 launch of 2024. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 happened at 8:32 p.m. EDT (0032 UTC).