Snapshots from Atlas 5 launch

The 900-ton suspended platform of Puerto Rico’s famed Arecibo Observatory collapsed Tuesday after cable failures, crashing into the radio telescope’s iconic dish and shattering a research instrument used to study pulsars, galaxies, planets, and asteroids that might threaten Earth.

NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexandr Gorbunov walked through a launch day simulation as NASA and SpaceX prepared to conduct a static fire test of the Falcon 9 rocket. Ignition happened at 10:05 p.m. EDT (0205 UTC).

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket slated to launch two NASA astronauts into orbit May 27 test-fired its nine Merlin booster engines Friday, May 22, on launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.