'A New Era Of Space Exploration' On Horizon With Upcoming Launch Of SpaceX Rocket
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- It's something we haven't seen for almost a decade and we'll have to keep waiting. NASA scrubbed Wednesday's scheduled launch of SpaceX's new rocket, which was poised to carry two American astronauts from Cape Canaveral, Florida, to the International Space Station.
Authorities are blaming the weather for the delay in the launch plan. The skies were stormy for much of the day and there was even a tornado warning in the vicinity in the hours before launch.
The launch was called off with 16 minutes to go due to the threat of lightning.
For nearly a decade, American astronauts have had to take rides on Russian rockets.
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Now, NASA is partnering with private companies to put Americans in space.
CBS3's Ukee Washington talked to Derrick Pitts, chief astronomer of the Franklin Institute, about that.
"What it will do is open a new era of space exploration," Pitts said. "A new revolution, a new era in a space race and this particular kind of partnership that NASA is creating with companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin and others, is the kind of direction in which space agencies have to go to take on the risk and take on the enormous cost of doing new deep solar system exploration with humans aboard."
The rocket launch has been rescheduled for Saturday at 3:22 p.m.
