Live coverage: SpaceX launches more Starlink satellites

New satellites for SpaceX’s Starlink broadband network set for launch Monday from Cape Canaveral will debut several performance and safety upgrades, but they do not include changes to reduce the brightness of the satellites, a modification SpaceX says it will introduce on future Starlink craft to mitigate their impacts on ground-based astronomy.

The mission launched after a six-day delay. Liftoff of the Starlink 15-3 mission from pad 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base happened at 5:19 p.m. PDT (8:19 p.m. EDT, 0019 UTC).

A detached electrical connector on the second stage of Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket caused a failure on a July 4 mission that destroyed seven small commercial satellites, but the company said Friday it is on track to resume launching before the end of August.