Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California with 10 next-generation Iridium communications satellites. SpaceX’s live video coverage begins at approximately 8:12 p.m. EST (0112 GMT; 5:12 p.m. PST). Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.
Mission Reports
ULA wins contract to launch NASA’s Lucy mission to visit unexplored asteroids
NASA has selected United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 rocket to dispatch the Lucy spacecraft on a mission from Cape Canaveral in October 2021 to fly by seven unexplored asteroids, including six objects locked in orbits leading and trailing Jupiter, where scientists expect swarms of miniature worlds could hold clues about the formation of the solar system.
Falcon 9
Live coverage: Falcon 9 with Crew Dragon briefly fires engines in test
The Falcon 9 rocket set to launch the SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule on a test flight in February briefly ignited its Merlin main engines on pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday. The Crew Dragon test flight to the International Space Station is a precursor to the spaceship’s first mission with astronauts later this year.