SpaceX go for launching rocket from NASA’s historic moon pad

A Space X Falcon9 rocket is readied for launch Friday, Feb. 17, 2017, at Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Saturday morning's planned launch will be SpaceX's first from Florida since a rocket explosion at another pad last summer. (AP)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — SpaceX is all set to launch a rocket from NASA’s historic moon pad.

As the sun rose Saturday over Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the unmanned Falcon rocket stood at Launch Complex 39A, ready to soar. Liftoff is scheduled for 10:01 a.m.

SpaceX is sending up a load of space station supplies from the exact spot where Americans flew to the moon almost a half-century ago. The pad was last used in 2011 for NASA’s final space shuttle flight.

This is SpaceX’s first launch from Florida since a rocket explosion Sept. 1. The accident during prelaunch testing heavily damaged that pad. SpaceX turned to Launch Complex 39A — which it leases from NASA — to resume flights. The company hopes to launch astronauts from 39A next year.