Watch a 4K video replay of the Falcon 9 static fire (members only)

The launch came as SpaceX and NASA was also busy preparing fore the next crewed flight the International Space Station. Liftoff happened at 9:01 p.m. PDT (12:01 a.m. EDT, 0401 UTC).

Two Intelsat communications craft are in French Guiana getting configured for a dual-launch aboard an Ariane 5 rocket Aug. 24, the first time the global satellite operator has put two of its payloads on the same booster.

United Launch Alliance recently raised a Delta 4-Heavy rocket, one of four left in the company’s backlog, vertical on its launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California in preparation for liftoff with a top secret U.S. government spy satellite at the end of April.