Q&A with George Ricker, principal investigator for the TESS mission (members only)

SpaceX fired up a Falcon 9 booster at Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad Wednesday in advance of a space station resupply launch Dec. 12, returning the pad to service after a rocket explosion there last year.

Follow the key events of the Falcon 9 rocket’s ascent to orbit with the fifth set of 10 next-generation satellites for Iridium’s voice and data relay fleet.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 booster is set for liftoff from Cape Canaveral on Sunday morning, but most of the launcher’s ascent into orbit will be under a news blackout at the request of the National Reconnaissance Office, the secretive U.S. government intelligence agency whose mission is riding on the rocket.