Photos: Falcon takes flight

Follow the Atlas 5 rocket’s ascent into orbit from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 41 launch pad with the U.S. Air Force’s GPS 2F-10 navigation satellite.

SpaceX completed the first of two planned Starlink missions from Florida this week. The first launch lifted off from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral on Monday at 2:14 p.m. EDT (1814 UTC).

Eight of Iridium’s first ten upgraded communications satellites launched in January started providing voice and data relay service ahead of schedule, and SpaceX says it can launch up to 40 more Iridium spacecraft by the end of the year, Iridium officials reported Thursday.