Live coverage: SpaceX finally launches Falcon 9 rocket

A problem with a U.S. Air Force tracking radar kept a Falcon 9 rocket crowned with a NOAA space weather observatory grounded Sunday, forcing a long-delayed mission to stay on Earth an extra day.

SpaceX is expected to transfer its next Falcon 9 rocket to launch pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday with a direct-to-home television broadcast satellite on-board, setting up for a two-and-a-half hour predawn launch window Tuesday.

After years of delays, the core stage for NASA’s first Space Launch System moon rocket rolled out of its New Orleans factory Wednesday, heading for a NASA site in Mississippi for a test-firing before engineers hope to ship the rocket to its Florida launch base by this fall.