Live video of launch pad 39A (members only)

As Hurricane Matthew churns ever closer to the United States, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station have begun preparations for possible impacts from the storm.

SpaceX engineers are preparing to mount a Falcon 9 rocket at Kennedy Space Center’s historic launch pad 39A for the first time this week as the company declares the modified facility ready to support a new era of commercial space missions.

A Rocket Lab Electron launcher malfunctioned about two-and-a-half minutes after liftoff from New Zealand Saturday, destroying two BlackSky optical Earth-imaging satellites in the launch company’s second failed flight in less than a year.