SpaceX to reattempt rocket launch, ocean pad landing on Saturday

SpaceX will try again Saturday to launch a load of groceries and other supplies to the International Space Station.

The first attempt was halted Tuesday at the last minute because of a problem with the Falcon rocket. The delivery was supposed to occur before Christmas, but was delayed twice in mid-December.

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Once the Dragon capsule is on its way, SpaceX will try to land the first-stage booster rocket on a platform floating in the Atlantic. No one has ever pulled off such a touchdown.

SpaceX is one of two private companies that NASA is using to help keep the space station stocked. The last shipment attempt by Orbital Sciences Corp. ended in an explosion seconds after liftoff from Virginia in October.

Saturday's launch time is 4:47 a.m. ET.

Included in the Dragon's cargo is the science project of a group of students from McGowan Park Elementary School in Kamloops, B.C. The four boys won a contest to get their experiment, which will examine how crystals grow in the near zero-gravity environment of space, included with 17 other projects on the trip.

When the Orbital Sciences' Antares rocket exploded shortly after takeoff, the students lost their original experiments.