Q&A with Claire Leon, director of launch enterprise directorate at SMC

The OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample retrieval mission atop an Atlas 5 rocket lifts off from launch complex 41, as seen by our camera at the NASA Kennedy Space Center press site.

Held down by heavy-duty restraints, a Falcon 9 rocket fired up its nine Merlin engines for more than three seconds Thursday evening in a key readiness test before launching with a commercial television broadcast satellite next week.

The first Falcon 9 flight of 2016 is ready for takeoff Sunday from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, and these photos show the rocket positioned on its launch mount overlooking the Pacific Ocean.