News

Actions

Moonshot pad roaring back into action with SpaceX launch

Posted

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - The launch pad used to send Americans to the moon and shuttle astronauts into orbit is roaring back into action.

Dormant for nearly six years, Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center should see its first commercial flight this weekend. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will use the pad to hoist supplies for the International Space Station.

Saturday morning's planned launch will be SpaceX's first from Florida since a devastating rocket explosion at a neighboring Cape Canaveral pad last summer. The accident prompted SpaceX to whip Launch Complex 39A into shape sooner than anticipated under its lease with NASA. The pad wrecked in the Sept. 1 accident remains unusable.

Launch time is 10:01 a.m. EST. Forecasters say there's a 70 percent chance of acceptable weather.

(Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)