Atlas 5/Cygnus post-launch news conference

Ground crews plan to load the final cargo into SpaceX’s Dragon supply ship Saturday after the capsule’s Falcon 9 rocket booster briefly fired up on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral for a flight readiness check.

NASA safety advisors on Thursday lauded hardware milestones on Boeing and SpaceX commercial crew capsules, but said multiple technical issues, including problems with parachutes, must be resolved before the human-rated ships are ready to carry astronauts, adding that both companies continue to pursue schedules that appear to be unachievable.

President Trump plans to visit the Kennedy Space Center in Florida next week to view the first launch of astronauts into orbit from U.S. soil in nearly a decade, according to White House officials.