Time-lapse video: The Falcon Heavy goes vertical again

SpaceX’s first Falcon Heavy rocket fired up 27 main engines Wednesday on launch pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, sending a crackling rumble across the swampy spaceport and moving the heavy-lifter a step closer to its oft-delayed maiden flight as soon as next week.

A cache of cargo bound for the International Space Station lifted off on a commercial SpaceX launcher Friday, thundering into mostly clear skies over Florida’s Space Coast aboard a reused booster that made a bullseye landing back at Cape Canaveral accompanied by a crackling sonic boom.

NASA has ordered four additional launches to deliver cargo to the International Space Station in 2017 — three from SpaceX and one from Orbital ATK — to cover the research lab’s logistics needs until a new set of resupply contracts take effect.