SpaceX rocket ship blasts off with 2 US astronauts

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida — A rocket ship designed and built by Elon Musk’s SpaceX company has lifted off with two Americans on a history-making flight to the International Space Station.

The spacecraft takes from the same launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida, that was used during the Apollo missions to the moon a half-century ago.

The flight ushers in a new era in commercial space travel and marks the first time NASA has launched astronauts from US soil in nearly a decade.

“Let’s light this candle,” commander Doug Hurley said just before liftoff.

Ever since the space shuttle was retired in 2011, NASA has relied on Russian rockets launched from Kazakhstan to take US astronauts took and from the space station.

— AP