Live coverage: China launches three-man crew to Tiangong space station

China launched the fourth in a series of high-resolution Earth-imaging satellites Saturday, expanding an orbiting fleet of reconnaissance craft that likely serve the Chinese military.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket took off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 8:25 a.m. EDT (1225 GMT) with 60 more Starlink internet satellites. SpaceX successfully recovered the first stage booster on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean.

Juggling simultaneous launch campaigns on both coasts, a team of SpaceX engineers put a Falcon 9 rocket through a customary countdown rehearsal and hold-down firing Tuesday at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California ahead of a scheduled liftoff Sunday.