Live coverage: Falcon 9 disintegrates after launch

SpaceX test-fired its next Falcon 9 rocket at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Saturday in preparation for the company’s 17th launch of the year, a mission tentatively set for liftoff Wednesday with a secretive payload named Zuma for the U.S. government.

In one of its final preflight tests, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket ignited at pad 39A in Florida for several seconds Thursday, ramping up to full throttle in an end-to-end checkout of the booster before liftoff next week on a space station resupply flight.

Stormy weather near NASA’s Kennedy Space Center kept SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket on the ground Thursday, delaying liftoff of a commercial supply ship with equipment and experiments for the International Space Station until Saturday.