SpaceX Falcon 9 Liftoff with TESS

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off at 6:51 p.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station carrying NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). It is the next step in the search for planets outside of the solar system and orbiting other nearby, bright stars. The mission is designed to find these planets, also known as “exoplanets,” orbiting other nearby, bright stars periodically blocking their light while the planets transition across the astronomical object.