SpaceX successfully launches a Falcon 9 rocket in Florida on Sunday on a resupply mission to the International Space Station. The rocket takes off from a launchpad at the Kennedy Space Center that has seen off some of Nasa’s most famous missions, but has gone unused since the agency retired its space shuttle fleet in 2011</s>The launch itself is not particularly notable.

Naturally, it's no mean feat to send a rocket to space, but missions like the one SpaceX is undertaking Saturday happen all the time. The International Space Station needs provisions, after all, and the 5,500 pounds of supplies and materials for scientific experiments would be a common (if still impressive) load for a resupply mission.

Rather, the liftoff scheduled for 10:01 a.m. ET — which is being streamed live by NASA in the video above — is making history not for its cargo but precisely where it will be taking place: Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In other words, the pad that served as the launch site for the Apollo 11 mission that first sent humans to the moon in 1969.

In fact, it served as a launch pad for many of the most famous missions in NASA's history — from the first missions to space that packed a human crew, to the decades-long space shuttle program that helped construct the orbiting station Saturday's rocket will be supplying.

As NPR's Rae Ellen Bichell reports for our Newscast unit, the SpaceX mission marks something of a sea change for the historic launch pad:



"According to NASA, this will be the first time the launch pad has been used since the shuttle program ended in 2011 — and it will mark the beginning of a new era for the Kennedy Space Center — as a spaceport open for use by public — and commercial — missions to space."



SpaceX, a privately owned space company, is sending its NASA cargo — and the Dragon spacecraft that bears it — with a Falcon 9 rocket. In a statement, NASA says SpaceX also plans to attempt to land the first stage of the Falcon 9 back on a platform, as it did during its successful launch last month.

NASA also explains some of the experiments this launch will be supporting:



"Science investigations launching on Dragon include commercial and academic research investigations that will enable researchers to advance their knowledge of the medical, psychological and biomedical challenges astronauts face during long-duration spaceflight. "One experiment will use the microgravity environment to grow stem cells that are of sufficient quality and quantity to use in the treatment of patients who have suffered a stroke. A Merck Research Labs investigation will test growth in microgravity of antibodies important for fighting a wide range of human diseases, including cancer."



According to NASA, the mission will also aid in recording "key climate observations and data records."</s>A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched from Kennedy Space Center's historic pad 39A on Sunday, taking with it more than 5,000 pounds of cargo to the International Space Station.

The rocket's first stage came back for a successful landing at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station less than 10 minutes after the 9:39 a.m. launch.

The launch took place at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A, the same one the Apollo astronauts used in NASA's historic moon missions. The pad was last used for NASA’s final shuttle mission nearly six years ago.

It was SpaceX’s first launch from Florida since a rocket explosion last summer.</s>To paraphrase an age-old saying: If at first you don't succeed, well, dust off the historic launch pad and try another liftoff.

Not as catchy as the original, perhaps, but certainly fitting for SpaceX, which on Sunday is making its second attempt this weekend at NASA's Launch Complex 39A, at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The first attempt, scrubbed Saturday with just 13 seconds before liftoff, was foiled by concerns over an anomaly discovered in the rocket's steering system.

The issue was "99% likely to be fine," Elon Musk, founder of the private space company, tweeted Saturday, "but that 1% chance isn't worth rolling the dice. Better to wait a day."

And wait a day they did. SpaceX rescheduled its launch — which you can watch live in the video above — for Sunday morning at approximately 9:38 ET.

The delay, disappointing as it may have been, does nothing to damper the history of the moment. Where there's nothing rare about the 5,500 pounds of cargo strapped in for the resupply mission Sunday, the pad it's taking off from has quite a backstory: Launch Complex 39A was the site that sent the first humans to the moon in the 1969 Apollo 11 mission.

It was the pad for a number of NASA's most important missions — from its early days sending people to space, to the three decades of the space shuttle program.

Now the pad, which hasn't been used since that program ended, is getting dusted off for a new era "as a spaceport open for use by public — and commercial — missions to space," NPR's Rae Ellen Bichell.

That includes SpaceX, which is sending a Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station with a Falcon 9 rocket — then, if all goes to plan, landing the first stage of that rocket back on a platform.

As we noted Saturday, NASA says the resupply mission packs supplies and materials for more than a few experiments:



"Science investigations launching on Dragon include commercial and academic research investigations that will enable researchers to advance their knowledge of the medical, psychological and biomedical challenges astronauts face during long-duration spaceflight. "One experiment will use the microgravity environment to grow stem cells that are of sufficient quality and quantity to use in the treatment of patients who have suffered a stroke. A Merck Research Labs investigation will test growth in microgravity of antibodies important for fighting a wide range of human diseases, including cancer."



This time around, SpaceX appears confident about the chances of a successful launch. "All systems go," the company declared in a tweet Sunday morning.</s>CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A SpaceX rocket soared from NASA’s long-idled moonshot pad Sunday, sending up space station supplies from the exact spot where astronauts embarked on the lunar landings nearly a half-century ago.

It was the first flight from NASA’s legendary Launch Complex 39A since the shuttle program ended almost six years ago, and SpaceX’s first liftoff from Florida since a rocket explosion last summer.

The crowds at Kennedy Space Center watched eagerly as the unmanned Falcon 9 rocket took flight with a cargo ship bound for the International Space Station. They got barely 10 seconds of viewing before clouds swallowed up the Falcon as it thundered skyward.

As an extra special treat, SpaceX landed its leftover booster back at Cape Canaveral eight minutes after liftoff, a feat accomplished only twice before. Most of SpaceX’s eight successful booster landings — rocket recycling at its finest — have used ocean platforms. As they did during the shuttle era, sonic booms heralded Sunday’s return.

SpaceX employees at company flight headquarters in Southern California cheered as the 15-story booster landed upright at its designated parking spot at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

SpaceX chief Elon Musk celebrated the successful touchdown via Twitter and Instagram.

The celebratory roar grew when the Dragon cargo ship successfully reached orbit a couple minutes later. It will reach the space station Wednesday, delivering 5,500 pounds of food, clothes and experiments.

It was SpaceX’s second launch attempt in a row. Saturday’s effort was foiled by last-minute rocket concerns. The repairs paid off, and even the clouds parted enough to ensure a safe flight.

Musk said he’s honored to use Launch Complex 39A. The company hopes to launch astronauts from this very spot next year, bringing U.S. crew launches back to home soil after a longer-than-intended hiatus. SpaceX Mars missions, first robots then people, could follow from here.

If the pad weathered Sunday’s launch well, another Falcon could be standing there for a satellite send-up in just two weeks.

Kennedy Space Center’s director Robert Cabana, a former shuttle commander who flew four times from 39A, is thrilled to see the pad used for commercial flights like this “instead of just sitting out there and rusting away.” It’s a stark contrast, he noted, to the depression that followed the final shuttle mission in 2011.

“It’s just really an exciting time,” Cabana said just before liftoff.

It was a momentous comeback for SpaceX. The last time SpaceX had a rocket ready to fly from Cape Canaveral, it blew up on a neighboring pad during prelaunch testing Sept. 1. Although the company successfully returned to flight last month from California, the focus was on getting leased Launch Complex 39A ready for action given that the pad with the accident was left unusable. The damaged pad should be back in action later this year.

Built in the mid-1960s for the massive Saturn V moon rockets, Launch Complex 39A has now seen 95 launches. Apollo 11’s Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins left Earth from here on July 16, 1969, on the first moon-landing mission. The very first space shuttle pilots, John Young and Robert Crippen, soared from here on April 12, 1981. And in a grand shuttle finale, Atlantis took off from here on July 8, 2011.

NASA signed over 39A to SpaceX in 2014 under a 20-year lease.

SpaceX has spent tens of millions of dollars to make 39A Falcon-ready. By the time astronauts climb into a Dragon capsule to fly to the space station, Shotwell said, pad renovations will exceed $100 million.

Last week, the U.S. Government Accountability Office warned the commercial crew launches by SpaceX and Boeing are at risk of slipping into 2019. “The hell we won’t fly before 2019,” SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell told reporters in response.

In a tweet Saturday, Musk said the company has already “retired” so much research and development risk on the crew Dragon capsule “that I feel very confident of 2018.”

As for the second-stage steering issue that cropped up Saturday, SpaceX hustled to replace an engine part before Sunday morning’s try. Musk said he personally called Saturday’s launch off, saying he was unwilling to risk something going wrong.

For SpaceX employees long accustomed to breaking new ground, Sunday was “a huge deal for us,” according to SpaceX’s Dragon mission manager, Jessica Jensen.

“I’m sure the team will be out celebrating,” Jensen told reporters. “We’ll be out tonight if you want to find us.”</s>CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - SpaceX will have to wait at least another day to launch from NASA's historic moon pad.

 

Last-minute rocket trouble forced SpaceX to halt Saturday's countdown at Florida's Kennedy Space Center.

 

The unmanned Falcon rocket remains at Launch Complex 39A, waiting to soar on a space station delivery mission. It's the same pad where Americans flew to the moon almost a half-century ago, and where the shuttle program ended in 2011.

 

This will be SpaceX's first Florida launch since a rocket explosion last summer.

 

The next launch attempt could come as early as Sunday morning.</s>To paraphrase an age-old saying: If at first you don't succeed, well, dust off the historic launch pad and try another liftoff.

Not as catchy as the original, perhaps, but certainly fitting for SpaceX, which on Sunday is making its second attempt this weekend at NASA's Launch Complex 39A, at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The first attempt, scrubbed Saturday with just 13 seconds before liftoff, was foiled by concerns over an anomaly discovered in the rocket's steering system.

The issue was "99% likely to be fine," Elon Musk, founder of the private space company, tweeted Saturday, "but that 1% chance isn't worth rolling the dice. Better to wait a day."

And wait a day they did. SpaceX rescheduled its launch — which you can watch live in the video above — for Sunday morning at approximately 9:38 ET.

The delay, disappointing as it may have been, does nothing to damper the history of the moment. Where there's nothing rare about the 5,500 pounds of cargo strapped in for the resupply mission Sunday, the pad it's taking off from has quite a backstory: Launch Complex 39A was the site that sent the first humans to the moon in the 1969 Apollo 11 mission.

It was the pad for a number of NASA's most important missions — from its early days sending people to space, to the three decades of the space shuttle program.

Now the pad, which hasn't been used since that program ended, is getting dusted off for a new era "as a spaceport open for use by public — and commercial — missions to space," NPR's Rae Ellen Bichell.

That includes SpaceX, which is sending a Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station with a Falcon 9 rocket — then, if all goes to plan, landing the first stage of that rocket back on a platform.

As we noted Saturday, NASA says the resupply mission packs supplies and materials for more than a few experiments:



"Science investigations launching on Dragon include commercial and academic research investigations that will enable researchers to advance their knowledge of the medical, psychological and biomedical challenges astronauts face during long-duration spaceflight. "One experiment will use the microgravity environment to grow stem cells that are of sufficient quality and quantity to use in the treatment of patients who have suffered a stroke. A Merck Research Labs investigation will test growth in microgravity of antibodies important for fighting a wide range of human diseases, including cancer."



This time around, SpaceX appears confident about the chances of a successful launch. "All systems go," the company declared in a tweet Sunday morning.</s>SpaceX halted the countdown with just 13 seconds remaining. The second-stage steering issue actually cropped up several minutes earlier. But with just an instant to get the unmanned Falcon rocket airborne, flight controllers could not resolve the problem in time.

The next launch attempt - provided everything can be fixed quickly - would be Sunday morning.

The Falcon remains at Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A, waiting to soar on a space station delivery mission. It's the same pad where Americans flew to the moon almost a half-century ago.

Up at the International Space Station, French astronaut Thomas Pesquet had a light-hearted take on the delay.

“Looks like I'll have to wait one more day to get my French cheese ;)” Pesquet wrote via Twitter. He added: “We need all your cargo for @ISS-Research!”

SpaceX chief Elon Musk said engineers want to make certain the “slightly odd” position of an engine piston isn't representative of bigger trouble. It's not out of the question that Saturday's problem is somehow related to the minor upper-stage helium leak detected the day before, he reported.

There's a 99 per cent chance everything is likely to be fine, Musk said in a tweet. “But that 1 per cent chance isn't worth rolling the dice. Better to wait a day.”

Thousands of guests had jammed the space centre to witness the comeback of 39A, last used in 2011 for the final space shuttle flight. Disappointment was high when the urgent call of “hold, hold, hold!” sounded over the radio lines.

This will be SpaceX's first Florida launch since a rocket explosion last summer.

The Sept. 1 accident occurred during prelaunch testing at a neighbouring 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.

Russia, meanwhile, plans to launch a supply ship to the International Space Station on Wednesday. If the SpaceX mission doesn't get going soon, it would likely have to get in line behind the Russian delivery.</s>Stocks expected to break to new highs, as long as trade progress...

The stock market is itching to make new highs, and it may soon, as long as progress continues to appear to be made on the trade war front.

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read more</s>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 photo provided by NASA shows a Space X Falcon9 rocket on the launch pad, Saturday, Feb. 18, 2017 at Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. SpaceX is launching 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 shuttle flight. This is SpaceX's first Florida launch since last summer's rocket explosion. (NASA via AP)

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.

A Space X Falcon9 rocket is readied for launch Friday, Feb. 17, 2017, at Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Saturday morning's planned launch will be SpaceX's first from Florida since a rocket explosion at another pad last summer. (Red Huber/Orlando Sentinel via AP)

A Space X Falcon9 rocket is readied for launch Friday, Feb. 17, 2017, at Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Saturday morning's planned launch will be SpaceX's first from Florida since a rocket explosion at another pad last summer. (Red Huber/Orlando Sentinel via AP)

A Space X Falcon9 rocket is readied for launch Friday, Feb. 17, 2017, at Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Saturday morning's planned launch will be SpaceX's first from Florida since a rocket explosion at another pad last summer. (Red Huber/Orlando Sentinel via AP)
SpaceX delays the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida due to a technical issue. The Falcon 9 will resupply the International Space Station.