Watch time-lapse of Falcon Heavy going upright (members only)

Climbing into a clear night sky, a Falcon 9 rocket soared into space early Thursday with the EchoStar 23 commercial communications satellite from launch pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The mission is one of two Starlink flights scheduled to fly from Florida within a four-hour window of opportunity. Liftoff of the Starlink 6-85 mission from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is scheduled for 1:21 a.m. EST (0621 UTC).

SpaceX’s next launch with a European-built communications satellite has been delayed to no earlier than March 28 to study a problem with a helium pressurization system on the Falcon 9 rocket, officials said Tuesday.