Light this candle: Liftoff of American astronauts from KSC next week

American astronauts will launch from American soil for the first time in nearly nine years next Wednesday.

Scheduled for liftoff from Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center at 4:32 p.m. on May 27, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft will take NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station. The last manned launch from KSC was the final mission of Space Shuttle Atlantis in 2011. Since then we’ve been reduced to paying Russia for rides on their spacecraft.

Follow the launch for updates, and advisories on the best venues to see history.

– David Johnson, DJGroup