Falcon Heavy hot fire as seen from Kennedy Space Center Press Site

While production of rockets and satellites continues across much of the space industry amid the coronavirus pandemic, engineers at several space companies — including SpaceX, Virgin Orbit and Blue Origin — have started working on medical devices and protective equipment in response to shortages in hospitals across the United States.

NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, built to find planets around other stars that are close enough for detailed follow-ups by future telescopes, launched Wednesday into a unique high-altitude orbit on top of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral.

The Starlink 15-9 mission will be the 200th orbital launch from Space Launch Complex 4 East to date. SpaceX is targeting liftoff of its Falcon 9 rocket at 8:36 p.m. PDT (11:36 p.m. EDT, 0336 UTC).