Watch the Falcon 9 test fire its engines ahead of Starlink launch (members only)

NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley will be geared up for the long haul when they launch from the Kennedy Space Center on a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft later this month, but they won’t know exactly how long they will be in orbit until they are already aboard the International Space Station.

A rocket booster SpaceX used to launch a planet-hunting NASA observatory two months ago fired again Saturday at Cape Canaveral, clearing a major pre-flight checkout before blastoff June 29 with a space station supply ship.

The U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command announced that SpaceX and ULA would launch five and two missions respectively as part of the latest round of National Security Space Launch contract assignments.