Live coverage: Mission control loses contact with Indian moon lander

SpaceX completed another another launch to add to the company’s Starlink broadband network Thursday. A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 8:46 a.m. EDT (1246 GMT) Thursday from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

China led the world with 34 orbital launch attempts in 2019 — including two failures — followed by 22 flights from Russian-operated launch pads and 21 satellite delivery missions originating from U.S. spaceports, all of which were successful.

An Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, crowned with 31 satellites from 15 countries, is counting down to liftoff early Friday from an island spaceport on the country’s east coast.