Live video of launch pad 39A (members only)

A 29-year-old cancer survivor, now a physician’s assistant at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, will blast off aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule later this year for a flight dedicated to raising money for the Memphis medical center. It will be the first orbital spaceflight with no professional astronauts on board.

SpaceX fired up a Falcon 9 booster at Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad Wednesday in advance of a space station resupply launch Dec. 12, returning the pad to service after a rocket explosion there last year.

The mission came shortly after announcing they crossed 5 million subscribers to the Starlink internet service. Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station happened on Sunday, March 2, at 9:24 p.m. EST (0224 UTC on March 3).