U.S. space exploration technology company SpaceX is preparing to launch a rocket carrying four astronauts to the International Space Station on Sunday night.
SpaceX is the rocket company founded by high-tech entrepreneur Elon Musk. The company tweeted Sunday that “all systems will launch tonight at 7:27 p.m. EDT on the first mission of the Dragon spacecraft with four astronauts on board.” SpaceX also said, “The team is closely monitoring the weather conditions for liftoff, which are currently 50 percent favorable.”
Separately, Vice President Pence tweeted that he was looking forward to attending the launch liftoff observation event with his second wife, Karen Pence. A White House statement said the Pence’s will travel to Florida on Sunday and return to Washington in the evening.
The mission will be the first time NASA has sent a privately owned rocket into space.
The journey to the International Space Station is expected to take 27 hours. According to NASA officials, the launch was scheduled to begin on Saturday, but was postponed due to strong winds.
In August, two U.S. astronauts returned to Earth and splashed down safely in the Gulf of Mexico after a mission to the ISS aboard a commercially developed SpaceX “Dragon” spacecraft.
The pair lifted off from Florida in May, the first time NASA has launched astronauts from U.S. soil since 2011 and the first time a commercially-developed spacecraft has put humans into orbit.
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