Video: Falcon 9 fires up engines for static fire test (members only)

SpaceX sent a Falcon 9 first-stage booster on a record-breaking 19th launch just after midnight as it continues the expansion of its Starlink satellite constellation. Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral occurred at 12:33 a.m. EST (0533 UTC).

Moving closer toward launch Monday with a South Korean communications satellite, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket fired its nine Merlin main engines Thursday on a launch pad in Florida in a key preflight readiness test.

The Falcon 9 first stage booster, tail number B1080, landed near Exuma, an island within The Bahamas. Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station happened at 6:21 p.m. EST (2321 UTC).