Live coverage: SpaceX’s next Falcon 9 rocket test-fired in Florida

A United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket lifted off Wednesday at 2:36 p.m. EDT (1836 GMT) from Cape Canaveral on a mission to place into orbit a fresh satellite for the Global Positioning System.

America’s most experienced astronaut says her fully commercial visit to the International Space Station this week is a critical stepping stone on the road to space tourism, private-sector orbital research and development of commercially operated space stations.

For its first mission of the year, SpaceX launched the Airbus-built Turksat 5A communications satellite to cover Turkey, the Middle East, Europe, and Africa with data relay and television broadcast services. A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 9:15 p.m. EST Thursday (0215 GMT Friday).