Drone’s view of Sunday’s SpaceX rocket landing

A test-firing of a twice-flown Falcon 9 booster Friday at Cape Canaveral paved the way for SpaceX’s next launch, scheduled for Monday night with a heavyweight Boeing-built communications satellite to beam broadband signals to Japan and the Pacific islands.

A Thai communications satellite is fastened to the top of SpaceX’s 229-foot-tall Falcon 9 rocket for launch Thursday. See photos of the Falcon 9 and Thaicom 8 being prepared for liftoff.

SpaceX broke another re-flight record on Friday evening with the launch of 23 more Starlink satellites on a Falcon 9 booster making its 18th flight. Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station occurred at 8:37 p.m. EDT (0037 UTC on Nov. 4).