A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is set to launch a pair of lunar landers on a journey to our closest celestial neighbor — kicking off what’s expected to be a bustling year of moon missions amid a renewed race to establish a long-term human presence on the lunar surface.

SpaceX completed its first launch from Kennedy Space Center for the year on Wednesday morning. A Falcon 9 carrying 21 Starlink satellites lifted off at 10:27 a.m. Eastern time from KSC’s Launch Pad 39-A.

SpaceX is ramping up for a mid-week launch of NASA’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 from Kennedy Space Center, according to a news release.

Check back for live FLORIDA TODAY Space Team launch updates on this page, starting about 90 minutes before today’s morning launch window opens.

A SpaceX Starlink mission is set to launch from Central Florida on Wednesday. The Falcon 9 rocket carry 21 Starlink satellites — including 13 with direct-to-cell capabilities — is set to take off at 10:27 a.m. from Kennedy Space Center and head toward low-Earth orbit.

SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying a pair of lunar landers into space early Wednesday, sending Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost and ispace's Resilience on their lengthy journeys to the moon.

An illustration of a private U.S. lander on the surface of the moon built by Texas-based company Firefly Aerospace. The company’s Blue Ghost lander is carrying a suite of scientific instruments to the moon,

Two robotic landers are set to begin their journeys to the moon Wednesday morning, when they launch aboard a SpaceX rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

NASA is sending a suite of science and technology demonstrations on Firefly Aerospace's Ghost Riders in the Sky mission to the surface of the moon.