TESS launch replay from launch pad camera

This zoomed-in shot shows SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket firing off launch pad 39A Thursday with the U.S. military’s X-37B spaceplane.

The United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket, standing 217 feet tall and weighing 900,000 pounds, unleashes 1.8 million pounds of thrust from its main engine and four side-mounted boosters at 8:18 p.m. EDT Saturday (0018 GMT Sunday) to launch the ninth Wideband Global SATCOM satellite for U.S. military and allied communications.

The launch came as SpaceX and NASA was also busy preparing fore the next crewed flight the International Space Station. Liftoff happened at 9:01 p.m. PDT (12:01 a.m. EDT, 0401 UTC).