Q&A with Elon Musk, founder and CEO of SpaceX (members only)

The Space Development Agency’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture constellation is expected to deliver global coverage beginning in 2027. Launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base occurred at 7:12 a.m. PDT (10:12 a.m. EDT / 1412 UTC).

The mission launched about eight hours after another Starlink launch from California. Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station happened at 8:21 a.m. EST (1321 UTC).

Fresh off a major design review, SpaceX’s human-rated Dragon spaceship has received the first of up to six firm mission orders from NASA under the company’s $2.6 billion commercial crew contract.