4K video: Wide-angle view of Falcon 9 hotfire

SpaceX’s final planned Crew Dragon test flight before astronauts ride the commercial spaceship into orbit is scheduled for Saturday, when an unpiloted crew capsule will fire off the top of a Falcon 9 rocket shortly after launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to test the craft’s in-flight emergency escape capability.

The first orbital test flight of Virgin Orbit’s privately-developed air-launched rocket is scheduled as soon as Sunday off the coast of Southern California, the company said Wednesday.

A SpaceX cargo capsule loaded with 3,100 pounds of research samples, no-longer-needed equipment and trash returned to Earth Thursday after a month-long stay at the International Space Station, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean southwest of Long Beach, Calif., after a fiery descent from orbit.