SpaceX launches Crew Dragon on its way to the space station [Updated]

A pretty day at Kennedy Space Center on Friday, as remote cameras were set up. [credit:
Trevor Mahlmann for Ars Technica. ]




3:05am ET Saturday Update: SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket hit its instantaneous launch window, and the booster blasted off at 2:49am ET Saturday morning from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The rocket's second stage safely delivered the Crew Dragon into orbit, where it will now spend about 24 hours raising its orbit and catching the International Space Station. The spacecraft will undergo tests during that time, but the next major milestone is docking with the station, set for Sunday morning.
As for the Falcon 9 rocket's first stage, it returned to Earth in the middle of the night, and landed on a droneship in the Atlantic Ocean. SpaceX has now recovered 35 of 69 Falcon 9 rockets it has launched—more than half of them.
Ars will have continuing coverage of this historic mission throughout the weekend, and next week.
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