Ready for Launch

A Falcon 9 rocket with a Dragon capsule secured atop stands upright between the lightning masts on the pad at Space Launch Complex 40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Preparations are under way to fuel the rocket for launch. Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX, built both the rocket and capsule for NASA's first Commercial Resupply Services, or CRS-1, mission to the International Space Station. The vertical lift was complete at 1 p.m. EDT.

Oct. 7, 2012
Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann