Photos: Falcon takes flight

SpaceX fired up a Falcon 9 booster at Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad Wednesday in advance of a space station resupply launch Dec. 12, returning the pad to service after a rocket explosion there last year.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket was lifted upright on Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad Monday after workers loaded time-sensitive supplies and research specimens into the Dragon cargo craft’s pressurized cabin.

Two days after departing from a launch pad on Florida’s Space Coast, a SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule arrived at the International Space Station on Wednesday with more than 6,400 pounds of experiments and supplies after concluding an automated laser-guided approach.