Video: Falcon 9 fires up engines for static fire test (members only)

A threatening layer of clouds stayed away from SpaceX’s launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Tuesday, allowing for clear viewing of a spectacular Falcon 9 launch carrying commercial and scientific satellites into polar orbit.

NASA’s Ionospheric Connection Explorer satellite was scheduled to launch Wednesday aboard an air-dropped Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket over the Atlantic Ocean, but managers aborted the mission after encountering a technical concern with the rocket following departure from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The launcher’s L-1011 carrier jet returned to Florida.

The Starlink 10-57 mission is also SpaceX’s 80th launch this year carrying Starlink satellites to low Earth obit. It’s targeting liftoff from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center is scheduled for 8:32 a.m. EDT (1232 UTC).