On Saturday at 3:22 pm ET, SpaceX plans to rocket its first people into orbit since Elon Musk founded the company 18 years ago.
If successful, the historic mission would also resurrect NASA's ability to launch its astronauts to the International Space Station. The US space agency flew its last space shuttle in July 2011 and has relied on Russia ever since to get to and from the orbiting laboratory.
NASA picked the astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, each of whom has two space-shuttle missions under his belt, to pilot SpaceX's experimental test flight, which is called Demo-2.
"We have this moment in time where we can unite people again," Jim Bridenstine, NASA's administrator, said during a press briefing before launch. "The whole world is going to be watching this."
Demo-2 is launching from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The company pushed for a launch on Wednesday, May 27, going so far as to fuel the Falcon 9 rocket with two astronauts inside the Crew Dragon spaceship on top. However, the threat of lightning forced SpaceX and NASA to scrub the attempt and delay the launch.
The rocket and spaceship carrying Behnken and Hurley has just a second or so to lift off and get on the right path to meet the ISS. So if there's another delay in the launch on Saturday, SpaceX and NASA can try again at 3:22 pm ET on Sunday. The US Air Force 45th Space Wing's weather officers on Wednesday said there's a 60 percent chance of liftoff for Saturday or Sunday's launch windows.
Below are six live video broadcasts of the historic launch that you can watch, some online and some via TV channels. We've also provided a NASA timeline of launch-day events at the end of this post so that you can follow along.
NASA TV
NASA TV, the agency's livestreaming channel, will broadcast coverage of Saturday's launch starting at 11 am ET. If the mission takes off and Crew Dragon reaches orbit, NASA TV will show it docking to the space station, its hatch opening, and Behnken and Hurley joining the ISS crew.
SpaceX
SpaceX will cover its launch live in starting about four hours before liftoff via its YouTube channel.
Follow along with NASA's timeline of launch countdown events
The times below are relative to liftoff at 3:22 p.m. ET on Saturday.
Once the crew lifts off, it will take SpaceX's new Crew Dragon spaceship just under nine minutes to reach orbit. Along the way, the capsule's automated systems or the crew's manual override could abort the mission if there's any problem and try to splash down in the Atlantic Ocean.
-04:15:00 Crew weather brief
-04:05:00 Crew handoff
-04:00:00 Suit donning and checkouts
-03:22:00 Crew Walk Out from Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building
-03:15:00 Crew Transportation to Launch Complex 39A
-02:55:00 Crew arrives at pad
-02:35:00 Crew ingress
-02:20:00 Communication check
-02:15:00 Verify ready for seat rotation
-02:14:00 Suit leak checks
-01:55:00 Hatch close
-00:45:00 SpaceX Launch Director verifies go for propellant load
-00:42:00 Crew access arm retracts
-00:37:00 Dragon launch escape system is armed
-00:35:00 RP-1 (rocket grade kerosene) loading begins
-00:35:00 1st stage LOX (liquid oxygen) loading begins
-00:16:00 2nd stage LOX loading begins
-00:07:00 Falcon 9 begins engine chill prior to launch
-00:05:00 Dragon transitions to internal power
-00:01:00 Command flight computer to begin final prelaunch checks
-00:01:00 Propellant tank pressurization to flight pressure begins
-00:00:45 SpaceX Launch Director verifies go for launch
-00:00:03 Engine controller commands engine ignition sequence to start
-00:00:00 Falcon 9 liftoff
This article has been updated.
This article was originally published by Business Insider.
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