Watch the Falcon 9 launch from pad 39A

Watch as a 23-story Falcon 9 rocket explodes Thursday morning during a countdown before a pre-launch engine hotfire test at Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad.

A Russian Soyuz rocket and Progress resupply freighter are set for liftoff Monday on an accelerated, less-than-four-hour rendezvous with the International Space Station after last-minute launch scrubs prevented two similar fast-track approach attempts in recent months.

An extended mission for the Falcon 9 rocket’s second stage after launch Thursday with a space station cargo ship helped demonstrate SpaceX’s ability to perform long-duration flight sequences to inject U.S. military payloads directly into high-altitude geosynchronous orbit.