The first launch of humans from United States (US) soil in nearly a decade was postponed to tomorrow, after a storm led to the postponement of Wednesday’s planned mission.
The launch, a collaboration between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and SpaceX, was called off 17 minutes before lift-off due to a storm.
The last time humans were sent into space from the US was in July 2011, when NASA retired its space shuttle fleet.
Two astronauts, Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken, were due to be launched into orbit on the Crew Dragon rocket, where they would dock with the International Space Station. If they are successful in their launch tomorrow, they will spend nearly four months in space.
SpaceX, founded by South African-born Elon Musk, has previously sent unmanned craft into orbit, but this would be the first time that it has attempted to send human beings. The enigmatic Musk is something of a space exploration evangelist, and has said he believes that as many as one million human beings could be living on Mars by 2050.