Video: Space station’s robot arm captures Dragon cargo ship

When SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket finally takes off for the first time, a debut now scheduled this fall, there’s a good chance the commercial heavy-lifter will falter short of reaching orbit, company founder and chief designer Elon Musk said last week.

These photos show SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, with a previously-flown first stage booster, sitting on its launch pad Tuesday at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California ahead of the scheduled liftoff of the Radarsat Constellation Mission.

The overnight launch marked the second Falcon 9 flight since the July 11 mishap that grounded the rocket. Liftoff happened at 1:09 a.m. EDT (0509 UTC).