A Space Exploration Technologies Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Sunday to put a commercial communications satellite into orbit. The 224-foot (68-meter) tall rocket lifted off from its seaside launch pad at 1 am EDT/0500 GMT, dashing through partly cloudy, night-time skies as it headed toward space.
Tucked inside the rocket's nosecone was the second of two satellites owned by Hong Kong-based Asia Satellite Telecommunications Holdings Ltd, or AsiaSat.
The first satellite, AsiaSat 8, was successfully delivered into an orbit some 22,200 miles (35,700 km) above Earth on August 5.
Both satellites were built by Space Systems/Loral, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based subsidiary of Canada's MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates Ltd.