Bummed out': SpaceX launch scrubbed because of bad weather
Source: AP
By MARCIA DUNN
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) The launch of a SpaceX rocket ship with two NASA astronauts on a history-making flight into orbit was called off with less than 17 minutes to go in the countdown Wednesday because of thunderclouds and the danger of lightning.
Liftoff was rescheduled for Saturday afternoon.
The spacecraft designed, built and owned by SpaceX was set to blast off in the afternoon for the International Space Station, opening a new era in commercial spaceflight. It would have also marked the first time in nearly a decade that the U.S. launched astronauts into orbit from American soil.
But thunderstorms for much of the day threatened to force a postponement, and the word finally came down that the atmosphere was so electrically charged that the spacecraft with NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken aboard was in danger of getting hit by a bolt of lightning.
A SpaceX Falcon 9, with NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken in the Dragon crew capsule, prepare to lift off from Pad 39-A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Wednesday, May 27, 2020. The veicle is venting as the mission was scrubbed. The launch of a SpaceX rocket ship with two NASA astronauts on a history-making flight into orbit was been called off with 16 minutes to go in the countdown because of the danger of lightning. (AP Photo/David J. Philip)
Read more: https://apnews.com/ee3b4602a879326904ee9cc53d676391
wendyb-NC
(3,250 posts)I'll tune in on Saturday, hopefully conditions will be right. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
rocktivity
(44,555 posts)Talitha
(6,479 posts)They were waiting for a window of opportunity and things began to look better so they started fueling. But I guess the conditions got unfavorable again. Oh well, they'll get it launched.
R Merm
(405 posts)Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(107,112 posts)yaesu
(8,020 posts)and a waste of money. We need to fix things here on Earth first.
SergeStorms
(18,903 posts)in our budgets for space travel for quite some time. Maybe we can have a "Go Fund Me" pledge drive to fly Trump to Mars. Hell, I'd chip in a bundle for that!
GulfCoast66
(11,949 posts)It was not storming there when canceled.
But apparently when there are enough charges in the air the exhaust Cloud can cause, basically, man made lightening. They lost several rockets in the early days till they understood the reason. Now their are some type of sensors at the cape that reads the level of the charges about and if they number is too high the launch is scrubbed.
Who knew?
FM123
(10,050 posts)We were having such bad weather down here (South FL) but I was hoping it would be alright up there...
TeamPooka
(24,156 posts)KY_EnviroGuy
(14,483 posts)Trump needs a new improved Sharpie.......
SergeStorms
(18,903 posts)is the rainiest time of year. I used to live in central Florida and you could almost set your watch by the afternoon thunderstorms. They'd last 20-30 minutes and that would be the end of it, but a day without rain in the summer months is something of a oddity.
NASA usually waited until any of the other 3 seasons for their launches. Why Musk (if indeed it was Musk) chose the summer is beyond me.