 |
| A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket sits on the launch pad |
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off on Sunday from a historic NASA launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida that has sat idle since the end of the space shuttle program nearly six years ago.
The rocket, launched at 9:39 a.m. EST (1439 GMT), carried a cargo ship with about 5,500 pounds (2,500 kg) of supplies and experiments for the International Space Station.
It was the first time SpaceX launched a rocket from Kennedy Space Center’s historic Launch Complex 39A, originally built for the 1960s-era Apollo moon program and later repurposed for the space shuttles.
The space company founded by entrepreneur Elon Musk had scrubbed its first launch attempt on Saturday, 13 seconds before liftoff, due to concerns about the steering system in the rocket’s upper stage, the company said.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which hired SpaceX to fly cargo to the station after the shuttle program ended, was closely monitoring the launch to learn more about the company’s operations before it clears the company to fly NASA astronauts on SpaceX rockets.
