Watch Live: SpaceX And NASA Mission To Space Station
The first-ever ride to orbit on a privately owned vehicle - Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
NASA and SpaceX scrapped a historic launch due to weather The two were scheduled to launch a manned mission to the Space Station from American soil for the first time in nine years. It would have marked the first-ever ride to orbit on a privately owned vehicle - Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
Read: SpaceX Ready for Defining Moment With First Humans on Rocket
A SpaceX Dragon capsule atop a Falcon 9 rocket was scheduled to blast off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 4:33 p.m. on May 27. Two NASA astronauts -- Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley -- were be on board, with a docking at the International Space Station scheduled for 19 hours later.
But the launch was cancelled minutes before blast off on account of inclement weather. The next attempt is scheduled for Saturday at 3:22 p.m.
This is mission is part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. In September 2014, NASA selected Boeing and SpaceX to transport crew to the International Space Station from the U.S. These integrated spacecraft, rockets and associated systems will carry up to four astronauts on NASA missions, maintaining a space station crew of seven to maximise time dedicated to scientific research on the orbiting laboratory, according to the NASA website.
Elon Musk is trying to turn such voyages into a sustainable business that supports a thriving space colony hundreds of miles above the Earth’s surface and, ultimately, bankrolls forays to the moon and Mars, reports Bloomberg.
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