Live coverage: SpaceX launches its fifth Falcon 9 flight of the year

Cameras positioned around SpaceX’s launch facility at Cape Canaveral captured stunning photos of the Falcon 9 rocket’s picturesque blastoff into a sun-splashed sky Sunday morning, but the photogenic launch went awry minutes later.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is set for liftoff from Cape Canaveral on Monday, heading due east over the Atlantic Ocean to deliver the SES 12 communications satellite into orbit around 32 minutes later.

Ground controllers sent commands Saturday for the International Space Station’s Canadian-built robotic arm to release a SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule, ending the ship’s nearly four-week stay at the orbiting research complex.