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:
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:
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