OnSite Narrative By Wes Oleszewski, ANN Space Correspondent

Cape Canaveral, T-02:29:20 and Counting: The SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle stands poised on the on the pad - GOX'ing billows of white vapor into the humid Florida night. Gleaming white with its upper two thirds illuminated by floodlights, the vehicle has finished fueling. Occasionally large chunks of ice can be seen falling from the side of the vehicle in a scene reminiscent of the early days of rocketry at the Cape. That is indeed appropriate, as tonight's mission is one of a flight test nature rather than one of satellite placement, or planetary exploration. On the line tonight is the budding Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) concept and the launch system put together by a "pr

SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket Set To Launch May 19th

The first U.S. commercial space flight is scheduled to launch this week from Cape Canaveral. Commercial launch company SpaceX has built a capsule that will go to the ISS and thus open the era of commercial space flight. The Falcon 9 rocket is on track to launch on Saturday, May 19, with a backup date of May 22. The rocket will carry the Dragon capsule into space, on a mission to deliver supplies of food and water to the International Space Station.