Live coverage of SpaceX’s preparations for the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad with the SES 12 communications satellite. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter.
The scheduled launch Saturday of two commercial BlackSky Earth-imaging satellites from New Zealand will double as an opportunity for Rocket Lab to test an enhanced heat shield on its Electron booster, an upgrade that should allow the company to recover rockets in better condition for eventual reuse.
A Northrop Grumman Cygnus supply ship packed with fresh food, experiments, and a new toilet for the International Space Station approached the orbiting research lab Monday, two-and-a-half days after launching from Virginia aboard an Antares rocket. Capture of Cygnus with the station’s robotic arm occurred at 5:32 a.m. EDT (0932 GMT).
SpaceX ran through countdown and fueling procedures with a Falcon 9 rocket at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sunday, culminating in ignition of the booster’s nine first stage Merlin engines in a customary check of the launcher’s readiness before liftoff Thursday with a Dragon supply ship for the International Space Station.
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