Video: Falcon 9 rocket test-fired at pad 39A (members only)

SpaceX’s first Falcon Heavy rocket is expected to roll out to pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center for the first time next month for a hold-down firing of its 27 Merlin main engines, but the mega-rocket’s inaugural test launch will slip into January, officials confirmed Tuesday.

The most powerful rocket ever built by India, boosted by two solid-fueled strap-on motors, a twin-engine core and a cryogenic upper stage, lifted off Monday to prove it can haul satellites into orbit nearly twice as heavy as India’s existing launchers. Launch occurred at 1158 GMT (7:58 a.m. EDT).

A $66 million NASA-funded science sensor package bolted on to a commercial communications satellite is ready for a ride toward a 22,000-mile-high orbital perch Thursday on a European Ariane 5 rocket, commencing a two-year mission surveying a rarely-studied region of Earth’s upper atmosphere.