Elon Musk's SpaceX company is preparing to launch a rocket for the first time since a launch pad explosion destroyed more than $200m of equipment.
The Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to blast off from California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base at 5.54pm UK time today to put 10 satellites into orbit for the Iridium communications company.
It will test changes made after another Falcon 9 exploded in Florida last September during a routine pre-flight test.
A $200m Israeli communications satellite and a $62m SpaceX booster were destroyed.
Accident investigators concluded that a canister of helium burst inside the rocket's second-stage liquid oxygen tank, which sparked an explosion.
The accident was a huge blow to the company’s ambitions to start ferrying US astronauts into space by next year, when it also plans to make its first unmanned voyage to Mars.
Today's flight would begin to clear a jam of more than 70 missions awaiting flights on SpaceX rockets, which last flew in August.
It is hoped the rocket will attempt to touch down on a platform in the Pacific Ocean, a feat previously accomplished by four other returning Falcon rockets.
SpaceX, founded by billionaire Tesla Motors boss Elon Musk, has also lost several rockets while trying to land them upright on ocean platforms.
The company had planned to launch the rocket a week ago but bad weather forced it to cancel its plans.
It aims to launch 27 rockets in 2017, more than triple the eight flights it managed in 2016, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
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