Video: SpaceX test-fires Falcon 9 rocket at pad 40 (members only)

The Starlink 8-2 mission from the company’s West Coast launch pad features 13 more satellites boasting a Direct to Cell capability. Liftoff from Vandenberg Space Force Base happened at 9:30 p.m. PDT (12:30 a.m. EDT, 0430 UTC) on Thursday.

SpaceX is preparing Thursday for its third attempt to launch the Astra 1P satellite to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) on behalf of one of its oldest customers: Luxembourg-based SES. Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is targeting 5:35 p.m. EDT (2135 UTC) on Thursday, June 20.

Astra was gearing up for the first orbital test flight of its small satellite launcher, named Rocket 3.0, from Alaska on Monday, but officials scrubbed the launch after detecting a problem with a guidance, navigation and control system in the final minute of the countdown. Poor weather at the launch site also prevented liftoff over the weekend on the first of two missions under the auspices of DARPA’s Launch Challenge.