SpaceX's 1st 'Block 5' Falcon 9 Rocket: The Launch Photos

Booster and SpaceX Hangar

SpaceX's first Block 5 booster sits atop Launch Pad 39A, adjacent to the company's hangar at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Space reporter Amy Thompson documented its May 11 and Aug. 7 launches. [Read our full story on the two launches here]

View of the booster on Pad 39A

The new Block 5 sits ready to hoist the Bangabhandu-1 satellite, Bangladesh's first, into orbit.

No soot

Here you can see the sleek and shiny brand-new Block 5 booster, a souped-up version of the Falcon 9 that can fly multiple times.

Bangladeshi reporters

Bangladesh was incredibly excited to have its first satellite launched into space. A group of reporters from the country made the journey here to see it off.

Countdown clock

The clock counts down as the first launch of SpaceX's Block 5 booster prepares to lift off. For launches from Pad 39A, the clock is a prime viewing location.

Good-luck cookies

A tasty launch tradition: JPL may have peanuts, but KSC has cookies.

Launch

The first Block 5 Falcon lifts off, carrying the Bangabhandu-1 satellite into space on May 11, 2018.

Liftoff for SpaceX's Block 5!

SpaceX debuted the new version of its Falcon 9 rocket, known as the Block 5, on May 11, 2018, with a flawless satellite launch and first-stage landing on a ship at sea. Read our full launch story for the mission here!

Supersonic Vapor Cone

SpaceX's first Falcon 9 Block 5 forms a vapor cone as it goes supersonic during its debut launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 11, 2018. You can read more about the phenomenon here.

Block 5's First Flight

Another view of SpaceX's first Block 5 Falcon 9 rocket launch.

Pre-MP launch

The same first-stage booster that carried the Bangabhandu-1 satellite into space sits ready to do it again. On Aug. 7, the booster delivered its second satellite, an Indonesian telecommunications satellite called Merah Putih (MP), into orbit.