Videos: Previewing SpaceX’s eighth International Space Station resupply launch

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is standing more than 20 stories tall on pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, ready for blastoff with the Turksat 5A communications satellite.

After a two-day readiness review, NASA managers gave a green light Friday for SpaceX to proceed with final preparations for launch next Wednesday, May 27, of a commercial spaceship carrying astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken to the International Space Station on the first orbital spaceflight from U.S. soil since 2011.

Weather conditions at the surface will likely be favorable for the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket Wednesday from Cape Canaveral, but upper level winds may pose a roadblock for the start of the company’s next space station resupply mission. SpaceX is targeting liftoff of the Falcon 9 from pad 40 at 12:51 p.m. EST (1751 GMT) Wednesday.