Mission Reports

A final set of photos shows Friday’s Falcon 9 launch from Cape Canaveral with the SES 9 communications satellite.

A Falcon 9 launcher bolted into the sky over Florida’s Space Coast on Friday, adding the brilliant orange glare of rocket exhaust to a spectacular sunset as the 229-foot-tall booster propelled the SES 9 communications satellite into orbit to serve the Asia-Pacific with high-definition television programming and connectivity on-the-go.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket got within a second of liftoff Sunday before a low-thrust alarm triggered an automatic abort. Watch a view of the dramatic last-second countdown cutoff at engine ignition from our camera at the launch pad.

Check out photos of a picturesque sunset at Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad, where a Falcon 9 rocket is poised for liftoff with a commercial broadcasting satellite for Luxembourg-based SES.