The mission was the 30th Starlink launch of the year for SpaceX. Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station happened on Thursday, April 24, at 9:52 p.m. EDT (0152 UTC).
Photos released by Russia’s space agency show the launch of a Soyuz booster Wednesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with two Russian cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut heading for the International Space Station.
A solid-fueled small satellite launcher named Jielong 1 fired into orbit Saturday on its first flight from northwestern China, debuting a new rocket developed by a spinoff of China’s state-owned launch vehicle manufacturer using a “commercial business model.”