Video: Falcon 9 fires up engines for static fire test (members only)

Watch as NASA holds a briefing at the Kennedy Space Center on the four agency technology payloads that are part of the STP-2 mission flying into orbit aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket.

A Russian Soyuz rocket has reached its last stop before liftoff Friday with two Russian cosmonauts and veteran NASA flight engineer Jeff Williams, who is slated to break the record for the most cumulative time spent in space by a U.S. astronaut.

Blue Origin was able to secure permission from the Federal Aviation Administration for a daytime launch attempt while the emergency order constraining commercial launches remains in place even after the end of the government shutdown. Liftoff is scheduled during an 88-minute-long window that opens at 2:57 p.m. EST (1957 UTC).