Live coverage: H-2A rocket blasts off with latest Japanese weather satellite

SpaceX’s next Falcon 9 rocket is being readied for liftoff Aug. 14 on a space station resupply run. The two-stage rocket completed a hold-down engine firing Thursday at launch pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

SpaceX is gearing up for launch of an unpiloted Crew Dragon spacecraft from the Kennedy Space Center for a crucial test of the crew capsule’s launch abort system. A modified Falcon 9 rocket performed a test-firing at launch pad 39A Saturday before carrying the Crew Dragon spacecraft into the upper atmosphere for an in-flight abort test scheduled for Jan. 18.

Working with a reduced staff due to coronavirus-related restrictions, European Space Agency flight controllers monitored the BepiColombo spacecraft during a flyby of Earth on Friday, a maneuver that used our planet’s gravity to steer the mission on a course toward Mercury.