Watch NASA’s STP-2 technology briefing

SpaceX continued its blistering pace of orbital launches with its ninth and final Starlink launch of August. Liftoff of its Falcon 9 rocket from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station happened at 7:49 a.m. EDT (1149 UTC).

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket got within a second of liftoff Sunday before a low-thrust alarm triggered an automatic abort. Watch a view of the dramatic last-second countdown cutoff at engine ignition from our camera at the launch pad.

The newly re-activated National Space Council is acting quickly to streamline convoluted regulatory requirements that frequently slow development of new commercial space initiatives, a shift in focus in keeping with the Trump Administration’s directive to encourage more private sector development on the high frontier.