Live coverage: Falcon 9 disintegrates after launch

SpaceX test-fired a Falcon 9 rocket at Cape Canaveral Friday evening, igniting nine Merlin engines for several seconds while hold-down restraints kept the launcher on the ground. The company also confirmed the rocket is scheduled for takeoff Wednesday on a space station resupply mission, three days later than previously planned.

A Russian Progress cargo freighter lifted off Wednesday from Kazakhstan on top of a Soyuz-2.1a booster and completed a record-breaking 3-hour, 19-minute pursuit of the International Space Station with an automated docking to deliver 2.7 tons of food, fuel, water and other supplies.

Nine Merlin engines on the first stage of SpaceX’s next Falcon 9 rocket briefly fired up on a Cape Canaveral launch pad Wednesday, and the launcher cleared a customary pre-flight checkout in preparation for liftoff early Sunday with a Canadian-owned communications satellite.