Live coverage: SpaceX launches another batch of Starlink satellites

The Falcon Eye 1 military reconnaissance satellite for the United Arab Emirates is set to ride a Vega launcher into a 379-mile-high (611-kilometer) orbit Wednesday night from French Guiana on a mission that will take less than one hour from liftoff until spacecraft separation.

The Starlink 17-18 mission added 25 more satellites to SpaceX’s low Earth orbit megaconstellation. Liftoff from pad 4E happened at 4:00:19 a.m. PDT (7:00:19 a.m. EDT / 1100:19 UTC).

Technicians around Cape Canaveral spent the last four weeks assembling a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket and preparing a Lockheed Martin-built NOAA weather satellite for liftoff March 1.