Live coverage: Soyuz sends Russian and two Americans to space station

Two months after a first test-firing ended prematurely, NASA plans to ignite the core stage of the first Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket again Thursday for an eight-minute burn to confirm it is ready for shipment to the Kennedy Space Center for launch preparations.

Russian technicians have finished tests of launch facilities at the Vostochny Cosmodrome ahead of the first liftoff from the new Siberian spaceport as soon as next month, Roscosmos announced Friday.

The unpiloted Russian Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft docked with the International Space Station on its second try at 11:08 p.m. EDT Monday (0308 GMT Tuesday), three days after aborting an approach due to a problem with the Kurs automated rendezvous system.