SpaceX has launched the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS – with the launch on the Falcon 9 rocket taking place at 18:51:31 EDT (22:51:31 UTC). The planet-hunting observatory was lofted by a new Block 4 Falcon 9 rocket from SLC-40 into an orbital resonance with the moon that will allow it to perform a near all-sky survey to find and categorize the number and types of exoplanets within 300 light years of Earth.
