SpaceX go for launching rocket from NASA's historic moon pad

Published On: February 18, 2017 06:32 PM NPT


SpaceX go for launching rocket from NASA's historic moon pad
FILE - In this Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2010 file photo, photographers prepare to make photos of the space shuttle Discovery at launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Dormant for nearly six years, Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center should see its first commercial flight in February 2017. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will use the pad to hoist supplies for the International Space Station. (AP)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Feb 18: SpaceX is all set to launch a rocket from NASA's historic moon pad.

As the sun rose Saturday over Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the unmanned Falcon rocket stood at Launch Complex 39A, ready to soar. Liftoff is scheduled for 10:01 a.m.

SpaceX is sending up a load of space station supplies from the exact spot where Americans flew to the moon almost a half-century ago. The pad was last used in 2011 for NASA's final space shuttle flight.

This is SpaceX's first launch from Florida since a rocket explosion Sept. 1. The accident during prelaunch testing heavily damaged that pad. SpaceX turned to Launch Complex 39A — which it leases from NASA — to resume flights. The company hopes to launch astronauts from 39A next year.

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