Live coverage: SpaceX Falcon Heavy launches NASA’s Psyche on mission to a metal asteroid

An air-launched rocket built by Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit reached orbit Sunday for the first time, delivering 10 experimental CubeSats for NASA and positioning the company for the start of commercial operations.

Following deployment, SpaceX will have launched a total of 2,600 Starlink V2 Mini satellites so far this year. Liftoff of the Starlink 11-14 mission from pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base occurred at 1:13 p.m. PST (4:13 p.m. EST / 2113 UTC).

The practice countdown began Tuesday night, kicking off a carefully choreographed series of steps to ready the world’s most powerful operational rocket for what amounted to a simulated launch Thursday at 8:42 p.m. EST. Controllers then carried out additional tests to make sure the team can recycle, hold and restart an actual launch countdown as needed to handle unexpected problems.