Video: Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from pad 39A (members only)

Crew Dragon astronauts Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken thanked their space station crewmates for a productive two-month visit, readied their SpaceX capsule for departure and stood by for a final “go” from flight controllers to undock Saturday night, setting up a Gulf of Mexico splashdown Sunday afternoon.

The mission was the 134th and final orbital launch from SpaceX in 2024. Liftoff from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center happened at 12:39 a.m. EST (0539 UTC) on Tuesday, Dec. 31.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket took off from Kennedy Space Center’s launch pad 39A on Thursday, then its first stage booster touched down on a nearby landing target after sending a U.S. Air Force X-37B spaceplane toward orbit.