Shuttle Atlantis unwrapped ahead of public debut

Two space shuttle solid rocket boosters — reusable space hardware that launched on 81 missions — are being gifted to the California Science Center to become part of the museum’s launch pad display of Endeavour.

SpaceX’s next Falcon 9 rocket rolled out of its hangar and up the ramp to launch pad 39A Sunday in preparation for liftoff on a two-day trek ferrying more than 6,400 pounds of supplies and experiments to the International Space Station.

SpaceX’s next Falcon 9 rocket arrived at Kennedy Space Center’s pad 39A on Thursday for a hold-down engine firing ahead of launch next week with the U.S. Air Force’s X-37B spaceplane. The brief engine ignition occurred at 4:30 p.m. EDT (2030 GMT).