Live coverage: Atlas 5 countdown and launch journal

SpaceX launched 57 Starlink broadband satellites and a pair of Earth observation smallsats for BlackSky on top of a Falcon 9 rocket at 1:12 a.m. EDT (0512 GMT) Friday. The 90th launch of a Falcon 9 rocket took off from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

A Sunday afternoon rocket launch is planned for Cape Canaveral this weekend, and beachgoers should have good weather conditions to watch the commercial Atlas 5 rocket power skyward with an Internet access satellite.

This video captures the final portion of the launch countdown and follows the Atlas 5 rocket’s flight through arrival in the preliminary orbit carrying the Curiosity rover headed for Mars. (Membership Required)