Watch a 4K video replay of the Falcon 9 static fire (members only)

Orbital ATK readied an upgraded Antares rocket for launch Monday from Wallops Island, Va., to deliver more than 3 tons of crew supplies, science gear, spare parts and three small satellites to the International Space Station to test miniaturized, low-cost technologies for Earth observation applications.

The U.S. military’s Space Development Agency, established in 2019 to fast-track new national security capabilities in orbit, plans to launch the first 10 satellites for a constellation of hundreds of missile tracking and data relay spacecraft Thursday on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from California.

This is the sixth consecutive year of increasing orbital launches from the Sunshine State. Liftoff of the Starlink 6-87 mission from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is scheduled for 10:21 p.m. EST (0321 UTC).