Falcon 9 Thaicom-8 launch
The SpaceX Falcon 9 lifts off May 27, 2016 carrying the Thaicom 8 telecommunications satellite to geostationary-transfer orbit. The rocket's first stage was successfully returned to an offshore drone ship.

SpaceX beat United Launch Alliance to win a $96.5 million contract to launch a GPS 3 navigation satellite from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in 2019, the U.S. Air Force announced March 14.

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Brian Berger is editor in chief of SpaceNews.com and the SpaceNews magazine. He joined SpaceNews.com in 1998, spending his first decade with the publication covering NASA. He was named senior staff writer in 2004, a position he held until being named...