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

The capture came after Northrop Grumman engineers adjusted the sensitivity of main engine fault detection software that prematurely triggered shut downs during two rendezvous thruster firings Tuesday.

SpaceX launched a series of 81 payloads to a Sun-synchronous Earth orbit over a roughly 2.5-hour-long deployment period. Liftoff from pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base happened at 12:12 a.m. PDT (0312 EDT / 0712 UTC).

The towering structure to be used for liftoffs of NASA’s Space Launch System rolled from a construction site to launch pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida this week, arriving at the seaside complex Friday for a week of fit checks.