SpaceX tests Falcon 9 rocket

Company tests rocket ahead of launch to space station

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – SpaceX successfully completed a brief test firing on Monday of a Falcon 9 rocket's first-stage engines on a second attempt that followed an aborted countdown, Local 6 news partner Florida Today reports.

At 4:15 p.m., nine Merlin engines fired for two seconds at full power, sending smoke billowing from beneath the rocket at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

A computer halted its initial countdown with 47 seconds to go at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at around 3:45 p.m.

If successful, the May 7 launch of the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule will show commercial companies are capable of sending rockets -- and, possibly astronauts -- to the ISS.

[VIDEO: SpaceX delays launch to ISS]

Watch Local 6 for more on this story.


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