Time-lapse video: The Falcon Heavy goes vertical again

A powerful commercial communications satellite to broadcast Internet signals over the Asia-Pacific region has arrived at Cape Canaveral for final launch preparations ahead of a planned Dec. 15 liftoff on top of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

The Starlink 11-22 mission was SpaceX’s 50th Starlink launch of the year. Liftoff from pad 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base occurred at 4:40 p.m. PDT (7:40 p.m. EDT, 2340 UTC).

Rocket Lab’s next launch from New Zealand in August will carry four small spacecraft into orbit for BlackSky’s Earth-imaging constellation, the U.S. Air Force, and a French startup developing a fleet of maritime surveillance satellites, the company announced Monday.