Watch live: NASA, SpaceX prepare for second attempt at historic launch on Saturday
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A boat passes the SpaceX Falcon 9, with Dragon crew capsule on top of the rocket Friday, May 29, 2020, at Launch Pad 39-A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Two astronauts will fly on the SpaceX Demo-2 mission to the International Space Station currently scheduled for launch weather permitting on Saturday, May 30. For the first time in nearly a decade, astronauts will blast into orbit aboard an American rocket from American soil, a first for a private company. lessA boat passes the SpaceX Falcon 9, with Dragon crew capsule on top of the rocket Friday, May 29, 2020, at Launch Pad 39-A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Two astronauts will fly on the … more
Photo: Charlie Riedel, AP
Photo: Charlie Riedel, AP
As experts continue to monitor weather conditions, SpaceX continues preparing for Saturday’s planned historic launch – the first time a private company has attempted to send NASA astronauts into space, and the first launch from American soil since 2011.
After Wednesday’s attempt was scrubbed due to lightning, the Associated Press reports that forecasters set the odds of good conditions today at 50/50.
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At a target time of 2:22 p.m. CTD, NASA and SpaceX will launch the first commercially-built and operated American rocket and spacecraft carrying astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley to the International Space Station during the SpaceX Demo-2 test flight.
Hurley said on Twitter that dealing with delays and cancellations is something astronauts are used to.
“On my first flight STS-127 on Shuttle Endeavour, we scrubbed 5 times over the course of a month for technical and weather challenges. All launch commit criteria is developed way ahead of any attempt. This makes the correct scrub/launch decision easier in the heat of the moment.”
The Houston Chronicle’s Andrea Leinfelder has more on the mission and why watching the weather is so important for a safe and successful launch.
