Photos: Dragon completes rendezvous with the station

A communications payload owned by the Luxembourg-based satellite operator SES will ride the first launch of an upgraded Falcon 9 rocket in mid-2015, SES officials said Friday.

Liftoff of a previously-flown Falcon 9 rocket is set for 6:27 p.m. EDT (2227 GMT) Thursday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the first time SpaceX has reused one of its first stage boosters on a second mission. Ground crews face a tight timeline to ready the rocket and the SES 10 communications satellite in time for a Thursday launch attempt.

A Japanese HTV cargo freighter is ready for launch Wednesday with the last set of six lithium-ion batteries to upgrade the International Space Station’s solar power truss.