Thunderstorms and threatening weather in the area caused the SpaceX launch to be scrubbed Wednesday.
The next attempt is scheduled at 3:22 p.m. Saturday.
The launch was scheduled for 4:33 p.m. Wednesday. Here is the feed from The Associated Press and NASA TV.
The first launch of a manned spacecraft from American soil since 2011 was set for Wednesday, as two NASA astronauts had prepared to lift off for the International Space Station in SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule.
Veteran astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken were scheduled to ride into orbit aboard the brand-new Dragon capsule on top of a Falcon 9 rocket, taking off for the International Space Station at 4:33 p.m. EDT from the same launch pad used by the Apollo moon missions a half-century ago, but weather forced the launch to be scrubbed.
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 Hurley and Behnken aboard was in danger of getting hit by a bolt of lightning.
“No launch for today — safety for our crew members @Astro_Doug and @AstroBehnken is our top priority,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine tweeted, using a lightning emoji.
Smiling, waving and giving the traditional thumbs-up as Vice President Mike Pence looked on, the two men said farewell to their families — exchanging blown kisses and pantomiming hugs for their young sons from a coronavirus-safe distance — before setting out for the pad in a gull-wing Tesla SUV, another product from SpaceX’s visionary founder, Elon Musk.
Thunder could be heard rumbling as the convoy of vehicles made its way toward the rocket. A tornado warning was issued moments after the astronauts climbed into their capsule.
“We could see some raindrops on the windows and just figured that whatever it was, was too close to the launch pad at the time we needed it not to be,” Hurley, the spacecraft commander, said after the flight was scrubbed. “Understand that everybody’s probably a little bit bummed out. That’s just part of the deal. ... We’ll do it again, I think, on Saturday.”
“Appreciate your resilience sitting there in the vehicle,” a controller replied.
Behnken responded: “Nothing better than being prime crew on a new spaceship.”
The flight will mark the first time a private company sends humans into orbit.
It will also be the first time in nearly a decade that the United States launches astronauts into orbit from U.S. soil. Ever since the space shuttle was retired in 2011, NASA has relied on Russian spaceships launched from Kazakhstan to take U.S. astronauts to and from the space station.
SpaceX is on the cusp of becoming the first private company to put astronauts in orbit, something achieved by three countries: Russia, the U.S. and China.
Tuesday night, Bridenstine said from Kennedy Space Center that both the space agency and SpaceX have been diligent about making sure everyone in the launch loop knows they’re free to halt the countdown if there’s a concern.
Bridenstine said he texted the two astronauts Monday and told them, “ ‘If you want me to stop this thing for any reason, say so. I will stop it in a heartbeat if you want me to.’ They both came back and they said, ‘We’re go for launch.’ ”
Hans Koenigsmann, a SpaceX vice president, said Monday evening he and other company workers have imagined themselves in the astronauts' shoes on launch day — “or their helmets.”
“That changes the equation pretty dramatically,” he said.
SpaceX has been launching cargo capsules to the space station since 2012.
“It’s a huge step, obviously, going from cargo ... to launching two people that are dads as we call them and have families, kids, wives,” Koenigsmann added.
NASA will have input throughout the countdown, but in the end, it will be SpaceX giving the final go — with NASA’s concurrence.
“SpaceX is controlling the vehicle, there’s no fluff about that,” Norm Knight, a NASA flight operations manager, said Monday. The odds of acceptable launch weather improved Tuesday to 60%. But that didn’t factor in conditions along the Dragon’s route to orbit.
SpaceX needs relatively calm waves and wind up the U.S. and Canadian seaboard and across the North Atlantic to Ireland, in case astronauts Hurley and Behnken need to make an emergency splashdown.
The last time astronauts launched from Florida was on NASA's final space shuttle flight in July 2011. Hurley was the pilot of that mission.
NASA hired SpaceX and Boeing in 2014 to transport astronauts to the space station, after commercial cargo shipments had taken off. Development of SpaceX’s Dragon and Boeing’s Starliner capsules took longer than expected, however, and the U.S. has been paying Russia to launch NASA astronauts in the interim.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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