SpaceX launches a satellite but doesn’t quite nail the fairing recovery

Enlarge / SpaceX has a sooty booster on the pad in California, ready for a launch. (credit: SpaceX)

10:22 ET update: This tweet by Elon Musk says that the payload fairing splashed down "a few hundred meters" away from the recovery ship.

9:30am ET update: The launch of the PAZ satellite Thursday morning was nominal, as the Falcon 9 rocket took off under clear, dark skies along the California coast. Two Starlink broadband demonstration satellites were expected to deploy shortly, as well. However, the webcast ended without providing any information about the success (or lack thereof) of an experimental attempt to "catch" the payload fairings. We hope to find out more information soon.

Original post: SpaceX had to scrub the Wednesday launch attempt of its Falcon 9 rocket due to upper-level winds but will try again Thursday morning. The instantaneous launch window opens (and closes) again at 9:17am ET. This launch will occur at Vandenberg Air Force Base in Southern California.

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