Live coverage: Upgraded Falcon 9 rocket test-fired at pad 39A

A Delta 2 rocket lifted off from California’s Central Coast Saturday after back-to-back scrubbed launch attempts earlier this week. The Delta 2 delivered the JPSS 1 weather satellite to orbit for NOAA.

Two test pilots and their instructor flew Virgin Galactic’s winged spaceplane out of the discernible atmosphere Friday for the second time in nine weeks, a successful sub-orbital flight that moves Richard Branson’s company one step closer to its goal of launching paying passengers and payloads on brief forays into the weightlessness of space.

This up-close sequence of photos shows the Falcon Heavy rocket lifting off from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida with nearly 5 million pounds of ground-shaking thrust.