How to watch Wednesday’s NASA/SpaceX launch from Kennedy Space Center

A SpaceX rocket is scheduled to blast off Wednesday afternoon from Kennedy Space Center, carrying a Dragon capsule with NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken to the International Space Station. It will be the first time astronauts launch from Florida in nine years and a first for a private company.

Here’s everything to know about watching the historic event.

When is the NASA/SpaceX launch on Wednesday, May 27?

Weather permitting, NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley will fly on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft, lifting off on a Falcon 9 rocket at 4:33 p.m. ET on Wednesday, May 27, from Launch Complex 39A in Florida.

As of Tuesday afternoon, there is a 60% chance that weather conditions will be favorable for the launch. If SpaceX doesn’t launch Wednesday, its next attempt would be Saturday.

Where to watch the NASA/Space X Dragon launch

Wednesday’s launch will air live on ABC. You can watch our special report of the launch on television or right here on our website.

Beginning at 3 p.m. ET | 2 p.m. CT | 12 p.m. PT, ABC News Live and National Geographic will present “Launch America: Mission to Space Live,” two hours of live coverage of the launch. ABC News anchors and correspondents will be joined by scientists and NASA officials as well as former NASA astronaut Cady Coleman, astronaut Christina Koch and others.

“Launch America: Mission to Space Live” will stream across ABC News Live and National Geographic platforms.

NASA will also offer live coverage of the launch on NASA TV beginning at 12:15 p.m. ET | 11:15 a.m. CT | 9: 15 a.m. PT.

Other things to know about Wednesday’s launch

• In a touch of Elon Musk showmanship Hurley and Behnken will ride to the launch pad in a gull-winged Tesla Model X, white with black trim just like the astronauts’ spacesuits and the rocket itself.
• Hurley, 53, a retired Marine, and Behnken, 49, an Air Force colonel, will spend one to four months aboard the orbiting lab, currently down to a three-man, half-size crew. They’ll lend a hand with experiments and possibly spacewalks, before ending their mission with an Atlantic splashdown, a scene not seen for a half-century.
• While trumpeting the return of astronaut launches, NASA is urging spectators to stay away because of the pandemic. But beaches near Kennedy are now open, and the local sheriff is welcoming visitors even though inside the space center, the number of guests will be severely limited. Among the exceptions: both astronaut wives – who have flown in space themselves – and their young sons.
• It will be just the fifth time NASA astronauts strap into a spanking new U.S. space system for liftoff – following Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and shuttle. NASA owned and operated all those spacecraft, built by contractors to NASA’s precise specifications. The commercial crew program, by contrast, calls for private businesses to handle and own it all, with input and oversight by NASA.
• The cosmic-size shift to private companies allows NASA to zero in on deep space travel. The space agency is busting to return astronauts to the moon by 2024 under orders from the White House, a deadline looking increasingly unlikely even as three newly chosen commercial teams rush to develop lunar landers. Mars also beckons.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.