Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California with 10 next-generation Iridium communications satellites. SpaceX’s live video coverage begins at approximately 8:12 p.m. EST (0112 GMT; 5:12 p.m. PST). Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.
Falcon
SpaceX’s Dragon supply ship returns to Earth
Wrapping up SpaceX’s fourth operational resupply flight to the International Space Station, a Dragon cargo capsule departed the high-flying research complex, dropped out of orbit and descended to a parachute-assisted splashdown in the Pacific Ocean with nearly 3,300 pounds of biological specimens and hardware.
News
Details of Orbital ATK’s proposed heavy launcher revealed
The launch vehicle Orbital ATK wants to face off against SpaceX and United Launch Alliance for lucrative U.S. military contracts would be made of two internally-built solid rocket motors and an upper stage engine supplied by Blue Origin, the entrepreneurial space firm led by Jeff Bezos, an Orbital ATK official said this week.