Jason 3 pre-launch news conference

SpaceX successfully deployed 60 more Starlink satellites into orbit Wednesday following launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 8:16 a.m. EDT (1216 GMT). One of the nine Merlin engines on the Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage shut down prematurely during ascent, but the launcher was still able to reach the mission’s targeted orbit.

A hefty new satellite to beam SiriusXM radio programming across North America rode a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket into orbit Sunday from Cape Canaveral on course to replace an aging broadcast station launched more than 15 years ago.

NASA has announced that Astrobotic, Intuitive Machines and OrbitBeyond won contracts to deliver science instruments and technology demonstration payloads to the moon’s surface in the first of a series of robotic missions preceding a human return to the moon.