Q&A with Keith Gendreau, principal investigator of the first X-ray space communications experiment (members only)

SpaceX test-fired the Crew Dragon spacecraft’s eight SuperDraco abort engines Wednesday at Cape Canaveral, paving the way for a high-altitude rocket escape test and demonstrating engineers have apparently fixed the problem that triggered an explosion during a similar ground firing in April.

Scientists marked the 10th anniversary of the launch of NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter on Tuesday, celebrating a mission that has greatly outlived its original one-year design life and continues taking high-resolution pictures to help U.S. companies and international space agencies select destinations for moon landers.

SpaceX was looking to rebound from a week of scuttled launches with a Falcon 9 launch from California but the Starlink 7-9 mission was delayed to Dec. 28 for unspecified reasons.