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

An all-new SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket fired its engines Friday night on launch pad 40 at Cape Canaveral, the opening act in a busy weekend of SpaceX launch preps leading up to a pair of blastoffs Sunday and Tuesday from California’s Central Coast and Florida’s Space Coast, respectively.

The first launch of a Russian Proton rocket since June has been delayed until at least January to conduct additional checks on the three-stage booster and its Breeze M upper stage, Russian space officials said.

The move not only allows SpaceX to increase its allowed launches at pad 40 from 50 to 120, but it also permits the Texas-based company to construct a new landing site adjacent to the launch pad.