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

The Falcon 9 booster for SpaceX’s next mission fired up briefly on a Cape Canaveral launch pad Sunday in a routine pre-flight test before a scheduled launch Friday night to kick off the final flight of the first version of the company’s Dragon cargo capsule to the International Space Station.

Liftoff of the Starlink 17-23 mission occurred at 2:10:39 a.m. PST (5:10:39 a.m. EST / 1010:39 UTC). The rocket, carrying 25 Starlink V2 Mini satellites, took southerly trajectory on departure from Vandenberg Space Force Base.

A Chinese startup named OneSpace could test its first full-scale launcher as soon as Wednesday in a bid to become China’s first privately-funded rocket company to place a satellite in orbit around the Earth.