Live coverage: New crew arrives at International Space Station

These photos follow the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft through a final rehearsal, the late stowage of cargo, and finally the lifting of the launcher vertical atop pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

NASA’s Ionospheric Connection Explorer satellite was scheduled to launch Wednesday aboard an air-dropped Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket over the Atlantic Ocean, but managers aborted the mission after encountering a technical concern with the rocket following departure from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The launcher’s L-1011 carrier jet returned to Florida.

A Norwegian communications satellite designed to connect far-flung clients and a Franco-Italian military spacecraft blasted off Sunday aboard an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana. Liftoff from the tropical spaceport occurred at 2000 GMT (4 p.m. EDT).