Photos: Final ULA mission of the year blasts off successfully

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket slated to launch two NASA astronauts into orbit May 27 test-fired its nine Merlin booster engines Friday, May 22, on launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The 20th flight of a Rocket Lab Electron launcher appeared to run into trouble a few minutes after liftoff at 7:11 a.m. EDT (1111 GMT) Saturday from New Zealand, when video showed the rocket’s upper stage tumbling and shutting off its engine prematurely. The rocket was carrying two commercial BlackSky Earth observation satellites into orbit.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will go from Cape Canaveral to low Earth orbit in less than 10 minutes Wednesday with a Dragon capsule heading for the International Space Station carrying more than 5,600 pounds of supplies and experiments.