This year's launch cadence is outpacing last year's by 3½ weeks on Florida's Space Coast: The 50th orbital launch of 2024 did not occur until July 8.

"Falcon completes its 500th overall mission! Congratulations to the entire SpaceX team for making the impossible possible on the road to rapidly reusable rockets!"

Amazon has contracted with ULA to launch 46 Kuiper flights, which will deploy the majority of the former’s satellite broadband constellation.

See the view of the flight 8 Starship launch from a camera on the launch mount. The SpaceX Mega Rocket launched from Starbase, Texas. Credit: SpaceX | edited by Space.com

Ax-4 is scheduled to lift off atop a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday at 8:00 a.m. EDT (1200 GMT). That's a one-day delay; SpaceX had been targeting Tuesday morning (June 10) but pushed things back due to expected high winds in the area.

Another six space tourists are preparing for Blue Origin's next human spaceflight, which will send the crew on a trip high above Earth's atmosphere.

Space Team live updates from this afternoon's ULA Atlas V launch on an Amazon mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.