Falcon 9

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will go from Cape Canaveral to low Earth orbit in less than 10 minutes Thursday with a Dragon capsule heading for the International Space Station carrying more than 7,300 pounds of supplies and experiments.

SpaceX ignited a Falcon 9 rocket for a 10-second test-firing early Thursday on a launch pad at Cape Canaveral, clearing a pre-flight check before a mission set to blast off just after midnight Sunday with the SXM 8 radio broadcasting satellite for SiriusXM.

In what’s become a rarity for SpaceX and its workhorse fleet of “flight-proven” hardware, a brand new Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon cargo capsule are scheduled to launch Thursday on a NASA-contracted flight to deliver more than 7,300 pounds of supplies and experiments to the International Space Station.

These photos show the liftoff from Cape Canaveral and climb into space of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket Wednesday. The launch carried 60 Starlink internet satellites into orbit and set a new record for payload fairing reuse, with one half of the nose cone making its fifth flight.

The launch of 60 more Starlink satellites Wednesday from Cape Canaveral could give SpaceX enough spacecraft to complete the first layer of its privately-funded global internet network, but the company shows no signs of slowing its launch cadence this summer.

Another batch of 60 Starlink internet satellites took off from Cape Canaveral at 2:59 p.m. EDT (1859 GMT) Wednesday aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The launcher flew with a recycled first stage booster and payload shroud, with one half of the nose cone flown on four previous missions. The booster successfully landed again on a SpaceX drone ship.