Skip to main content

SpaceX to launch rocket from NASA’s historic moon pad

By The Associated Press

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — 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.

WTOP photo tour: Historic nuclear power plant at Fort Belvoir to be dismantled

By Neal Augenstein
The red button was always there — just in case. Most people never knew the United States' first nuclear power reactor to provide sustained electricity to a commercial power grid was — and is — on the grounds of Fort Belvoir, the U.S. Army installation in Fairfax County, Virginia.
Read Next Story

Related Stories

Human sperm roll like ‘playful otters’ as they swim, study finds, contradicting centuries-old beliefs

WATCH LIVE: NASA spacewalk

Mysterious radio signal from space is repeating every 16 days