Astronauts will ride aboard the vessel in the first manned U.S. space mission in nearly 10 years. CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The launch of a SpaceX rocket ship with two NASA astronauts on a history-making flight into orbit was called off with 16 minutes to go in the countdown Wednesday because of thunderclouds and the danger of lightning.
Liftoff was rescheduled for Saturday afternoon. The spacecraft — designed, built and owned by SpaceX — was set to blast off in the afternoon for the International Space Station, opening a new era in commercial spaceflight.
It would have also marked the first time in nearly a decade that the U.S. launched astronauts into orbit from American soil. RELATED: NASA, SpaceX hope to end 9-year spaceflight gap with