Updated 3:50 p.m. May 27

The SpaceX launch scheduled for the afternoon of May 27 was postponed due to weather. Liftoff has been rescheduled for May 30 at 3:22 p.m. EST.

Originally posted 11:24 a.m. May 27

For the first time since 2011, NASA astronauts are launching today from U.S. soil to space.

Astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley will be flying aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Falcon 9 spacecraft, lifting off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 3:32 p.m. CST. The duo will fly to the International Space Station for the Demo-2 mission, the duration of which is to be determined.


As the final flight test for SpaceX, the mission will validate the company’s crew transportation system, including the launch pad, rocket, spacecraft and operational capabilities, according to a Space Center Houston blog post. This also will be the first time NASA astronauts will test the spacecraft systems in orbit.

You can watch the historic moment via NASA Television. The stream began at 11 a.m. CST with live views of the rocket on Launch Pad 39-A at the Kennedy Space Center.

Since NASA's Space Shuttle program ended in July 2011, NASA astronauts have been launching from Russia to reach the ISS. May 27 marks a historic return to an era of launching American astronauts from American soil, officials have said.



Astronauts spend their days at the Johnson Space Center in Clear Lake, furthering NASA’s mission to explore space. But before they can strap into a rocket, they must first spend two years in basic training as astronaut candidates followed by years of mission-specific training—and before that, they must be among the talented few selected by NASA from a pool of thousands of wannabe space explorers. The latest candidate group graduated in January.

January’s 11 graduates, who have been officially added to the Astronaut Corps, were the first to complete training under the Artemis program, which is NASA’s designation for the manned spaceflight program that will land crews on the moon and, eventually, Mars. For more about the role of the Johnson Space Center in the Bay Area, click here.