SpaceX’s next Falcon 9 rocket launch, using a previously-flown first stage booster, took a step closer to liftoff Thursday with a countdown rehearsal culminating in ignition of the launcher’s nine Merlin main engines in a hold-down firing at pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Russian flight controllers have given up attempting to salvage a Progress cargo ship loaded with 3 tons of supplies and equipment intended for the International Space Station. Astronaut Scott Kelly, on board the lab for a year-long mission, said Wednesday the Progress will not be docking and instead will plunge back into the atmosphere.

A new satellite joined Russia’s Glonass navigation fleet Saturday with a successful launch on top of a Soyuz rocket into an orbit nearly 12,000 miles above Earth.