Q&A with Keith Gendreau, principal investigator of the first X-ray space communications experiment (members only)

United Launch Alliance recently raised a Delta 4-Heavy rocket, one of four left in the company’s backlog, vertical on its launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California in preparation for liftoff with a top secret U.S. government spy satellite at the end of April.

The Starlink 10-34 mission was SpaceX’s 20th Falcon 9 launch of the year so far. Liftoff from pad 40 occurred at 8:41:40 p.m. EST (0141:40).

During a visit to Cape Canaveral this week, NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken strapped in to the SpaceX crew capsule they will ride into orbit as soon as mid-to-late May. Next week, the astronauts will be in Houston to continue training for an extended stay on the International Space Station that could last two-to-three months.