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A SpaceX Falcon 9 carrying Telstar 18 Vantage is launched from the Cape Canaveral Air Base.
Video capture by Eric Mack / CNET
Rain, lightning and thick clouds delayed the launch of a SpaceX Florida's Falcon 9 for more than an hour, but the Elon Musk rocket company managed to take off about 45 minutes after midnight Sunday, sending a heavy communications satellite en route to orbit.
The brand new "Block 5 "Falcon 9 took off from Cape Canaveral at 12:45 Eastern Time Sunday in the midst of clouds and darkness, hurricane Florence looming far in the Atlantic Ocean.
The first-stage propeller illuminated the launch pad as he was rapidly crossing the clouds, carrying the Telstar 18 Vantage satellite over the Earth.
The satellite was initially scheduled for takeoff in July but has been delayed several times. The huge spacecraft weighs 15,564 pounds (7,060 kilograms), making it one of the heaviest commercial communication satellites ever launched. The record was set by his companion Telstar 19 satellite, which weighed 15 600 pounds and which was launched at the end of July aboard another SpaceX Falcon 9.
The first stage of the rocket landed aboard the drone "Of course, I still love you" parked in the Atlantic and will be recovered for a future mission.
This launch is the first in over a month for the commercial company, which hopes to eventually raise the same rocket within 24 hours. It was also the 60th mission of the Falcon 9 completed.
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