Live coverage: Falcon 9 soars into space with DSCOVR

The Falcon 9 booster that dramatically flew back to Earth last month following a commercial satellite launch ignited again Friday in a hold-down test at SpaceX’s Cape Canaveral launch pad, days before the company is due to launch its next mission from California, officials said.

A small satellite assembled in Britain has been released from the International Space Station, commencing a standalone mission to test technology and techniques that could be used to capture and de-orbit space junk in low Earth orbit.

The Starlink 10-11 mission features the first launch of a booster on its 30th flight. SpaceX is targeting liftoff of its Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at 4:12 a.m. EDT (0812 UTC).