© 2023 90.7 WMFE. All Rights Reserved.
Public Media News for Central Florida
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

SpaceX Preps For Launch At Historic Pad

Launch Complex 39A. Photo: NASA
Launch Complex 39A. Photo: NASA

SpaceX is prepping a Falcon 9 rocket to send supplies to the International Space Station.

SpaceX conducted a static fire test – that’s a quick firing of the Falcon 9 rocket’s engines on the pad ahead of the launch.

The mission is a delivery of supplies and science experiments to the International Space Station. The launch is targeted for Saturday

This launch will be the first from Launch Complex 39A. The pad hosted historic missions, like Apollo 11 that took astronauts to the moon, and the last launch of the space shuttle in 2011.

NASA pays SpaceX, and another commercial company, Orbital ATK, to send supplies to the station.

An explosion last year grounded the fleet for more than 6 months. SpaceX successfully returned to flight from a pad in Vandenberg, California last month. This is the first flight from Florida since the accident.

SpaceX plans to land the first stage booster back at Cape Canaveral.

Tags
Brendan Byrne is WMFE's Assistant News Director, managing the day-to-day operations of the WMFE newsroom, editing daily news stories, and managing WMFE's internship program.

Byrne also hosts WMFE's weekly radio show and podcast "Are We There Yet?" which explores human space exploration.
90.7 WMFE relies on donors like you. Your support allows us to provide independent, trustworthy journalism and fact-based content. Show your support today by contributing on a monthly basis or making a single online donation.