Photos: Falcon takes flight

SpaceX ran a Falcon 9 rocket through a customary preflight checkout Tuesday, filling it with super-cold propellants and firing its nine Merlin first stage engines in preparation for liftoff Friday on a resupply run to the International Space Station.

SpaceX called off a Falcon 9 countdown Wednesday due to the threat of lightning from thunderstorms along Florida’s Space Coast, pushing back the departure of a cargo mission for the International Space Station until Thursday.

SpaceX conducted the first hold-down firing of an upgraded version of the Falcon 9 rocket Friday at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, in preparation for launch next week with Bangladesh’s first communications satellite.