SpaceX set for Cape Canaveral test fire ahead of ISS launch

SpaceX teams at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station are expected to test fire a Falcon 9 rocket next week ahead of a planned launch for NASA to the International Space Station.

The short firing of the rocket's nine Merlin main engines, known as a static test fire, will last a few seconds at Launch Complex 40 on Thursday and help teams determine the vehicle's health before launching with thousands of pounds of cargo and science experiments for station crew.

Liftoff with the company's Dragon spacecraft is targeted for 2:53 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 4, and a first stage landing at nearby Landing Zone 1 is expected about 8 minutes later.

[The tree supporting KSC's famous bald eagle nest has died]

[NASA, SpaceX targeting launch to ISS as nose cone investigation continues]

The 13th launch under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services contract, or CRS-13, will reactivate Launch Complex 40 for the first time since it was heavily damaged in a September 2016 explosion, which occurred during a static test fire.

SpaceX's investigation into an issue with its fairings, or nose cones that protect spacecraft during launch, continues and a new launch date for the previously delayed Zuma mission has not yet been announced. It was scheduled to launch from Kennedy Space Center's pad 39A last week with a classified government payload secured by Northrop Grumman.

The CRS-13 mission can proceed because launches to the ISS do not use fairings.

Tune into FloridaToday.com/Space for updates on the CRS-13 mission, as well as live coverage on launch day beginning at 1:30 p.m.

Contact Emre Kelly at aekelly@floridatoday.com or 321-242-3715. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook at @EmreKelly.