SpaceX-Nasa to launch new era in space with private human spaceflight mission, take-off tonight

A new era in space begins Wednesday with the launch by SpaceX of two Nasa astronauts into space, a capability that for six decades symbolised the power of a handful of states, and which the United States itself had been deprived of for nine years.

If the bad weather clears, at 4:33 pm (20:33 GMT) a SpaceX rocket with the new Crew Dragon capsule on top will take off from Launch Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, the same from which Neil Armstrong and his Apollo crewmates left for their historic journey to the Moon.

Piloted by NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, it will head for the International Space Station. The flight is going ahead despite shutdowns caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The two men have been in quarantine for the past two weeks.