Historic SpaceX launch postponed to Saturday due to weather

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP/ABC) – The launch of a SpaceX rocket ship with two NASA astronauts on a history-making flight into orbit has been called off with less than 17 minutes to go in the countdown because of the danger of lightning.

Liftoff is rescheduled for Saturday.

The spacecraft was set to blast off Wednesday afternoon for the International Space Station, ushering in a new era in commercial spaceflight and putting NASA back in the business of launching astronauts from U.S. for the first time in nearly a decade.

Ever since the space shuttle was retired in 2011, NASA has relied on Russian rockets to carry astronauts to and from the space station.

Veteran NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley will try again Saturday to board the SpaceX Crew Dragon atop the Falcon 9 rocket.

SpaceX was created by Elon Musk, who hopes to become the first private U.S. company to put astronauts into orbit.

The launch is now set for Saturday, May 30 at 3:22 p.m. The astronauts will go back into quarantine until then.