Historic rocket launch scrubbed
Next window for NASA, SpaceX effort to get astronauts to space station will be Saturday
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The SpaceX launch of NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley was scrubbed Wednesday due to inclement weather.
The clock was stopped 16 minutes and 54 seconds before the scheduled 3:33 p.m. CDT liftoff. There was too much electricity in the atmosphere, said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, and there was a concern that launching the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft could trigger lightning.
“There is a lot of disappointment today,” Bridenstine said after Behnken and Hurley safely exited the vehicle. “The weather got us.”
But he said it was the right call: “I am proud, so proud, of our
teams working together to make the right decision in this particular case.”
The next attempt will be Saturday at 2:22 p.m. CDT, and there’s another window available Sunday at 2 p.m. CDT. Liftoff will be from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center.
Like Wednesday’s launch, these are “instantaneous” windows. That means the vehicle must depart at those precise times in order to reach the International Space Station on time and accurately. Any delay on that specific day (such as Wednesday’s weather) means the launch must be scrubbed and moved to another day.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron forecast a 40 percent chance of favorable weather for the backup launch windows on Saturday and Sunday.
President Donald Trump, who traveled to Florida with first lady Melania for the liftoff, did not give the public remarks originally scheduled for after the launch. However, the White House released remarks from a conversation with Bridenstine, SpaceX founder Elon Musk, Vice President Mike Pence and Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana.
“I want to thank everybody down here,” Trump said before the launch was scrubbed. “And this is something the first lady and I looked very much forward to seeing.”
He followed those remarks with a Tweet Wednesday evening: “Thank you to @NASA and @SpaceX for their hard work and leadership. Look forward to being back with you on Saturday!”
Trump wasn’t the only one looking forward to Wednesday’s launch. People flocked to Florida beaches and parks that would have provided a good view of the launch. In Houston, about a dozen of Behnken’s neighbors and friends gathered on a patio in his Timber Cove neighborhood.
It wouldn’t have been the first time those living in the subdivision watched a neighbor launch into space, said Kay Ann Jorgenson, who organized the party. Still, it would have been a historic moment. Jonathon Emmons, who launches model rockets with Behnken and his family, said the anticipation was unnerving.
“I haven’t had a very clear mind today,” he said. “Most of my mind has been focused on Bob and just praying everything goes good.”
Behnken and Hurley will become the first people propelled into space on the Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft. This mission, Demo-2, is a flight test as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. After they dock with the International Space Station (where they’re to spend roughly one to four months) and then splash down in the Atlantic Ocean, NASA and SpaceX will review the data before SpaceX’s human spaceflight system can receive NASA certification for more routine flights to the International Space Station.
This first operational crewed flight could be as soon as Aug. 30, with Houston-born astronaut Shannon Walker among its crew members.
NASA has relied on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft for reaching the International Space Station since 2011. Wednesday was supposed to resume launching NASA astronauts into orbit from the U.S.
“We are going to launch American astronauts on American rockets from American soil,” Bridenstine said. “We’re going to do that. We’re very close.”