Q&A with George Ricker, principal investigator for the TESS mission (members only)

Check out a view of the Falcon 9 launch Monday from our camera at the Kennedy Space Center press site about three miles from pad 39A.

The mission is a follow-on from NASA’s planetary defense mission, DART, which succeeded in changing the orbit of an asteroid around its larger neighbor. Liftoff happened at 10:52 a.m. EDT (1452 UTC).

A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off Friday night on another mission to deliver satellites into orbit for SpaceX’s Starlink internet service. Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station occurred at 10:00 p.m. EDT Sept. 29 (0200 UTC on Sept. 30) after a delay for weather.