Falcon 9 launches TESS as seen from KSC Press Site (members only)

SpaceX’s launch team loaded liquid propellants into the company’s first upgraded Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket Friday at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and the countdown rehearsal culminated in a brief ignition of the launcher’s nine Merlin main engines on the launch pad.

Watch a replay of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad Friday, as seen from the Kennedy Space Center press site five miles away.

The satellite is designed to enhance broadband communications in India, both on the ground and during air travel. Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station happened at 1:31 p.m. EST (1831 UTC).