Watch the Falcon 9 launch from pad 39A

SpaceX test-fired a Falcon 9 rocket Monday night at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, clearing the way for a launch Thursday with Qatar’s Es’hail 2 communications satellite, the first daytime liftoff from Florida’s Space Coast in more than six months.

International Space Station astronaut Jeff Williams opened the hatch and floated into the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, or BEAM, experimental habitat today for the first time.

A wide-angle view of the Space X Falcon 9 rocket test firing at Kennedy Space Center’s launch pad 39A during final preparations for it scheduled blastoff with the EchoStar 23 communications satellite.