A Falcon 9 rocket blasted off into a brilliant morning sky over the Sunshine State on Wednesday, and these photos show the kerosene-fueled launcher climbing away from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifted off Wednesday at 10:29 a.m. EDT (1429 GMT), launching with two Boeing-built communications satellites for Eutelsat and Asia Broadcast Satellite.
Two pioneering communications satellites purely powered by plasma rocket thrusters lifted off from Cape Canaveral aboard a Falcon 9 launcher Wednesday, starting missions to broadcast video across Asia and Latin America, and improve navigation for airplanes crossing the United States.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 10:29 a.m. EDT (1429 GMT) Wednesday with two Boeing-built communications payloads for Eutelsat and Asia Broadcast Satellite. A secondary objective to recover the first stage offshore in the Atlantic Ocean failed.
Follow the key events of the Falcon 9 rocket’s ascent into space from Cape Canaveral with the ABS 2A and Eutelsat 117 West B communications satellites.
Technicians planned to attach two Boeing-built communications satellites to a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket Monday, a day after launch controllers fueled the rocket and fired its nine Merlin first stage engines in a key preflight test.