Live coverage: SpaceX launches another batch of Starlink satellites

A mysterious small satellite built by the German company OHB, purported to be a pathfinder for a Chinese-owned communications constellation, took off from New Zealand Wednesday and soared into orbit on top of a Rocket Lab Electron launcher.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine says he is “fairly confident” that astronauts can fly to the International Space Station aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spaceship at the end of May or early June, pending final parachute tests, data reviews and a training schedule that can escape major impacts from the coronavirus pandemic.

The Starlink 10-38 mission saw SpaceX deploy 29 broadband internet satellites into low Earth orbit. Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station happened at 2:06:10 p.m. EDT (1806:10 UTC).