SpaceX completes static test fire ahead of Falcon 9 NRO launch

Kennedy Space Center saw smoke and fire today as SpaceX completed a pre-launch check known as a "static test fire" ahead of a planned Sunday liftoff.

Smoke billowed from pad 39A shortly after 3 p.m. as the company's Falcon 9 rocket, lifted vertical and fueled, briefly fired its nine Merlin main engines. SpaceX confirmed the test completion via Twitter.

The test fires are critical checks that allow teams to run through practice countdowns, usually several days before a planned launch.

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Sunday's launch, referred to as NROL-76, is SpaceX's first dedicated mission for the National Reconnaissance Office. Secured atop the Falcon 9 rocket will be a classified intelligence satellite scheduled to launch during a window that opens at 7 a.m. and closes at 9 a.m.

The first stage of the rocket is expected to land at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Landing Zone 1 shortly after liftoff.

SpaceX is also targeting May 15 for the launch of a British commercial communications satellite named Inmarsat-1 and no earlier than May 31 for its eleventh resupply mission to the International Space Station. Both missions will launch from KSC on Falcon 9 rockets.

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