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

The slide system differs notably from the slide wire basket system used over at Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. NASA officials said pad 40 will be ready for astronaut launches this year.

The launch of a NASA research satellite built to probe conditions along the boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and space has been tentatively rescheduled for no earlier than Wednesday, pending the conclusion of a review of unexpected data signatures discovered on the first stage of the mission’s air-launched Pegasus XL rocket.

Rocket Lab’s launch of NASA’s second pair of TROPICS hurricane research satellites, reassigned from Astra following a launch failure last year, has been rescheduled for Sunday after a delay due to unfavorable weather at the the company’s New Zealand spaceport.