Spectators watch the final fiery moments of the Starship test flight

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is set for liftoff from Cape Canaveral early Friday, heading due east over the Atlantic Ocean to deliver the JCSAT 14 communications satellite into orbit 32 minutes later.

The 10th dedicated cargo delivery mission by SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, and the first to liftoff from launch pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, will carry more than 5,000 pounds of equipment to the International Space Station.

The core stage of NASA’s first Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket arrived at the Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday evening aboard a specially-built barge, completing a voyage by sea from a test site in Mississippi to begin final preparations for the first flight of NASA’s Artemis Moon program. Ground crews plan to transport the core stage into the Vehicle Assembly Building beginning around 5:30 a.m. EDT (0930 GMT) Thursday to join its two solid rocket boosters.