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The approval clears a major hurdle for the satellite provider that has long wanted to enter the country.
The mission was initially expected to last eight days.
Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams is set to return home after nine months on the orbiting lab.
SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 7.03 pm ET from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida carrying four astronauts who will replace Wilmore and Williams.
The spacecraft a new and upgraded model making its debut was supposed to soar across the Gulf of Mexico from Texas on a near loop around the world similar to previous test flights.
With its engines roaring, the 233-foot-tall booster fell into the launch tower's enclosing arms, hooking itself in place by tiny, protruding bars under the four forward grid fins it had used to steer itself through the air.
A billionaire and an engineer made history as part of a SpaceX mission.
Elon Musk gives up omelettes for a week in mocking gesture against environmentalists.
Barry Wilmore is the other astronaut on the Starliner capsule that was launched from Florida.
SpaceX's rocket experienced a rapid unscheduled 'disassembly'
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