At 3:44 a.m. EDT a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the Dragon spacecraft successfully lifted off from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Space Station launch complex 40 for its maiden voyage to the International Space Station on its second demonstration flight as part of the NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program.
This afternoon NASA held a pre-launch briefing for tomorrow's SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with Dragon spacecraft launch to the International Space Station on the COTS-2 demo flight.
On Monday, April 30, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) will webcast a static fire test of the Falcon 9 rocket's nine powerful Merlin engines in preparation for the company's upcoming launch.
In the International Space Station's Destiny laboratory, NASA astronaut Don Pettit, Expedition 30 flight engineer, conducts the first of three sessions on the ROBoT simulator in preparation for the arrival of the SpaceX Dragon.