Shuttle Atlantis unwrapped ahead of public debut

A privately-funded airlock from Nanoracks will head for the International Space Station this weekend in the trunk of a SpaceX Cargo Dragon capsule, adding to the orbiting lab’s capacity for scientific experiments in another milestone for commercial space development.

Here’s another batch of photos from Saturday’s Falcon 9 launch from Florida’s Space Coast with nearly 6,000 pounds of supplies heading for the International Space Station.

With an eye on fast-moving Hurricane Irma, SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center Thursday while NASA and contractor personnel rushed to prepare the sprawling spaceport for extreme winds, torrential rain and a threatening storm surge.