Video: Falcon 9 fires engines at pad 39A ahead of Es’hail 2 launch (members only)

Spaceflight Now’s Stephen Clark reports from Starbase in South Texas as SpaceX prepares the largest rocket in history for a second launch attempt after calling off a launch attempt Monday due to a valve problem.

Hurricane Matthew slammed NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, home to multiple launch pads and spacecraft assembly facilities, with wind gusts of more than 100 mph early Friday, but there were no immediate reports of significant damage at the spaceport as the storm passed just offshore.

An electrical problem on one of the Ariane 5 rocket’s two solid rocket boosters led to an on-pad launch abort Tuesday, likely delaying liftoff with two U.S.-built communications satellites until around the end of September, Arianespace officials said.