Live coverage: SpaceX launches another batch of Starlink satellites

SpaceX, the upstart rocket company that has shaken up the launch industry with low-cost reusable boosters and ambitious long-range plans to carry people to Mars and beyond, plans to reduce its workforce by about 10 percent, company sources said late Friday.

The satellite will help offset capabilities lost with the loss of Thuraya 3 in April 2024. Liftoff of the Thuraya 4-NGS mission from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station happened on Friday, Jan. 3 at 8:27 p.m. EST (0127 UTC).

The slide system differs notably from the slide wire basket system used over at Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. NASA officials said pad 40 will be ready for astronaut launches this year.