Time-lapse: Falcon 9 lifted vertical on pad 39A (members only)

Mission managers will be closely monitoring the weather for the first launch of astronauts aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft, not just around the Kennedy Space Center, but along a corridor stretching thousands of miles across the Atlantic Ocean in case the crew capsule has to escape from its Falcon 9 rocket during the climb into orbit.

The next test of a critical safety system on SpaceX’s human-rated Dragon spaceship will be delayed, likely until some time next year, as the company adjusts the development schedule for the new commercial crew capsule designed to take astronauts to the International Space Station.

An airport-like viewing tower standing up to 30 stories tall is the centerpiece of SpaceX’s planned rocket refurbishment and operations base proposed for vacant land at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.