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

Blue Origin was able to secure permission from the Federal Aviation Administration for a daytime launch attempt while the emergency order constraining commercial launches remains in place even after the end of the government shutdown. Liftoff is scheduled during an 88-minute-long window that opens at 2:57 p.m. EST (1957 UTC).

SpaceX used its second most launched Falcon 9 booster to launch the Starlink 11-17 mission. Liftoff from pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base happened at 8:54 p.m. PDT (11:54 p.m. EDT / 0354 UTC).

Managers aborted liftoff of a commercial Antares cargo launcher Saturday when an aircraft strayed into restricted airspace near the rocket’s planned flight path east from Virginia’s Eastern Shore.