Live coverage: Kennedy Space Center to reopen Friday

The mission will complete a back-to-back schedule for SpaceX on Sunday morning. Liftoff from SLC-4E happened at 2:22 a.m. PDT (5:22 a.m. EDT, 0922 UTC).

A Falcon 9 rocket powered by a recycled first stage lit its main engines for a hold-down firing on a launch pad Tuesday at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California in preparation for launch with an Argentine radar satellite on a mission that will feature the first SpaceX booster landing on the West Coast.

The most powerful Atlas rocket to ever fly from the West Coast is poised for launch Thursday to deliver a secret payload into orbit while debuting a new upper stage engine.