Live coverage: Irma knocks out power at Kennedy Space Center

These photos show the 215-foot-tall Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft on pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, ready for launch on a test flight to the International Space Station with NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken when weather cooperates.

SpaceX rolled out a reused Falcon 9 booster for a hold-down engine firing Wednesday at pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, making the first use of the launch complex since a rocket exploded there in September 2016. The static fire test accomplished Wednesday was a key step in preparations for launch of a space station cargo ship Dec. 12.

A new weather observatory that will track storms across the globe as it orbits from pole to pole has been trucked to its launch site in California for a long-awaited ascent into space this November.