Falcon 9 launches with GovSat 1 as seen from Kennedy Space Center (members only)

Watch the pre-launch news conference held Monday, March 21 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center to preview liftoff of the Orbital ATK commercial Cygnus cargo ship aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket for the International Space Station.

This is the first out of at least eight planned launches supporting the broadband internet satellite constellation in November. Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is scheduled for 8:31 p.m. EST (0131 UTC).

The quick pace of missions is notably quick for the intelligence gathering agency. Liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base happened at 5:29 a.m. PDT (8:29 a.m. EDT, 1229 UTC).