A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off late Thursday, propelling a reusable X-37B Space Force rocket plane into space on a classified long-duration mission. It was the eighth such flight since the program's debut in 2010 and the first since a 434-day mission ended last March.

Lighting up the overnight sky for miles around, the Falcon 9 roared away from historic pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center at 11:50 p.m. EDT, arcing onto a northeasterly trajectory atop 1.7 million pounds of thrust from the booster's nine first-stage engines.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket roars to life and climbs into the overnight sky carrying a Space Force X-37B rocket plane toward space for a classified military mission. SpaceX webcast

After the spacecraft climbed out of the lower atmosphere, the engines shut down, t

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