WATCH LIVE: SpaceX is about to launch its Crew Dragon spaceship into orbit for the first time — a 'critical' mission for NASA and its astronauts

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — After years of delays, SpaceX and NASA are closing in on the first experimental launch of a commercial spaceship designed to fly astronauts into orbit.

The demonstration mission, called Demo-1, is scheduled to launch aboard a Falcon 9 rocket on Saturday at 2:49 a.m. ET from Kennedy Space Center here in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

You can watch the rocket lift off live via NASA TV using the player embedded at the end of this post.

The goal of the launch is to show that Crew Dragon, or Dragon V2— a new spaceship that Elon Musk's spaceflight company designed for NASA — is safe to fly astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS).

The experimental spaceship will go to the ISS, but it won't have any people on board this time. Instead, it will ferry a female crash-test dummy named "Ripley" in a spacesuit, along with some cargo, to the the $150 billion orbiting laboratory. If this test proves successful, SpaceX may launch its first astronauts as soon as July.

"Demo-1 is a flight test, it absolutely is, although we view it also as a real mission, a very critical mission," Kirk Shireman, who manages the space station program at NASA's Johnson Space Center, said during a press briefing. "The ISS still has three people on board, and so this vehicle coming up to the ISS for the first time has to work. It has to work."

Read more: SpaceX plans to rocket a sleek new spaceship for NASA astronauts into orbit. Here's what Crew Dragon must do to prove it's safe to fly people.

Demo-1 is part of a roughly $8 billion effort by NASA called the Commercial Crew Program, which aims to restore NASA's ability to launch astronauts on its own ships. The agency has not had a way to do that since it retired the last space shuttle in July 2011. (US astronauts currently fly to and from the ISS on Russian Soyuz spacecraft.)

Saturday's event would mark the first launch of an American-made spaceship for astronauts since then, among other milestones.

"This is a critically important event in American history," Jim Bridenstine, NASA's administrator, told reporters on Friday while standing before four astronauts slated to fly on Crew Dragon. "We're on the precipice of launching American astronauts on American rockets from American soil again for the first time since the retirement of the space shuttle in 2011."

An illustration of SpaceX's Crew Dragon space capsule for NASA astronauts launching toward space on a Falcon 9 rocket.SpaceX

NASA TV plans to broadcast live video and commentary of the Falcon 9 rocket launch starting at 2 a.m. ET tomorrow (March 2). You can watch it using the embedded player below.

Although SpaceX typically hosts its own launch webcasts, this time the livestream will be a joint production with NASA, featuring remarkable views from inside the Crew Dragon.

"There will be video cameras and there will be nice views, and it will give you a perspective that you would have if you were inside," Hans Koenigsmann, SpaceX's vice president for build and flight reliability, said on Thursday.

On Friday morning, the US Air Force released a forecast predicting a 20% chance of delay due to weather. Cloud cover that's too thick to launch a rocket within NASA's margins of safety could lead the agency to scrub the morning launch. However, the weather here at the Cape is currently calm, with cloudless skies and a crystal-clear view of the stars.

Should weather or some other issue delay launch, the backup launch date is Tuesday, March 2. The forecast for Tuesday is markedly worse, with the USAF weather report says there could be a 40% chance of delay then, due to thick clouds and a chance of rain.

You can watch live launch coverage here. We've also posted a second-by-second list of stages for the launch below this player so you can follow along.

Here's a list of all of the stages of the launch that you can expect to see, according to NASA, with all times being approximate and relative to 2:49 a.m. ET:

COUNTDOWN Min/Sec — Events

45:00 — SpaceX Launch Director verifies "go" for propellant load 37:00 — Dragon launch escape system is armed 35:00 — RP-1 (rocket grade kerosene) loading begins 35:00 — First stage LOX (liquid oxygen) loading begins 16:00 — Second stage LOX loading begins 07:00 — Falcon 9 begins engine chill prior to launch 05:00 — Dragon transitions to internal power 01:00 — Command flight computer to begin final prelaunch checks 01:00 — Propellant tank pressurization to flight pressure begins 00:45 — SpaceX Launch Director verifies go for launch 00:03 — Engine controller commands engine ignition sequence to start 00:00 — Liftoff of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft

LAUNCH, LANDING AND DRAGON DEPLOYMENT Min/Sec — Events

00:58 — Max Q (moment of peak mechanical stress on the rocket) 02:35 — First stage main engine cutoff (MECO) 02:38 — First and second stages separate 02:42 — Second stage engine starts 07:48 — First stage entry burn 08:59 — Second stage engine cutoff (SECO-1) 09:24 — First stage landing burn 09:52 — First stage landing 11:00 — Dragon separates from second stage

This story has been updated with new information.

Original author: Dave Mosher