NASA, SpaceX launch delayed by weather

Historic mission moved to Saturday

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER — Incessant rain and even a tornado warning earlier in the day were eventually too much for the teams at SpaceX and NASA, which postponed the return of American astronauts to space for the weekend because of bad weather.

The mission plans to take astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station, the first time in nine years that an American crew has taken off from U.S. soil since the end of the space shuttle program nine years ago.

NASA and SpaceX will now work toward a Saturday launch scheduled for 3:22 p.m. from Kennedy Space Center’s launch complex 39A. A second back-up date is set for Sunday at 3 p.m.

But weather may play a factor then, too. The Air Force’s 45th Weather Squadron will be looking at a subtropical ridge that could threaten conditions over the weekend. There is potential that the weather will clear around the spaceport, forecasters said, but conditions Saturday and Sunday are still only 60% favorable for launch. The primary concerns: Rain and cloud cover in the afternoon, as well as thicker clouds on Sunday.

Behnken and Hurley were strapped in and ready to go by 4 p.m. Wednesday, with the teams reporting no issues with the rocket. It was the tumultuous weather outside that wasn’t going to calm down in time.

SpaceX’s principal integration engineer, John Insprucker, said during a webcast of the mission that if teams had about 25 more minutes, the weather would have probably cleared. But Wednesday’s launch had an instantaneous launch window: It either launched at 4:33 p.m. or not at all.

“It’s better to be on the ground and wishing you were flying, than flying wishing you were on the ground,” Insprucker said.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine tweeted shortly after the scrub that the safety of the crew “is our top priority.”

The weather for a crewed mission is a complicated cocktail of different components: How good conditions are at the launch site, at the area in the ocean where SpaceX’s booster lands back after liftoff, and, critically, at the potential sites where the crew might abort and splashdown in the case of an emergency mid-flight.

On the Space Coast, thousands of spectators spread out across the beaches to watch the mission, the stop-and-go rain of the day threatening to further thin the already milder crowds as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

“What a bummer,” said Mark Kicsak of Jacksonville, folding his chair to head home from an open field off South Washington Avenue in Titusville, where he and his 6-year-old daughter Maddie had a clear view of the launch site. “It’s been a bucket list item for a long time, even before SpaceX was involved.”

On Saturday, NASA will still be monitoring the more than a dozen conditions that would trigger a no-go call in terms of weather. The agency will not launch if the weather downrange has a “high probability” of getting in the way of a safe abort.

The agency tracks wind, waves, lightning and rain at more than 50 locations along the North American eastern seaboard and across the North Atlantic Ocean to the coast of Ireland.

NASA has two military cargo planes ready to take off in the case of an emergency, and additional planes are stationed in New York and England in the case a water rescue is necessary following an abort, said Kathy Lueders, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew program.

The program has been in the works for more than a decade and it culminates this week with its first crewed launch, a test of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon vehicle that’ll take Behnken and Hurley to the space station for at least a monthlong trip.

The two astronauts went through the preflight routine Wednesday, waking up around 9 a.m. to have breakfast — steak and sunny-sideup eggs, Hurley tweeted.

Vice President Mike Pence was already at the Space Coast when the call was made to scrub the launch. President Donald Trump toured part of the Kennedy Space Center soon after his arrival later in the afternoon and offered well wishes to the astronauts, who were already on the ship by the time he arrived.

“Good luck, and God be with you,” Trump said. “It’s a dangerous business, but they’re the best there is.”

Later Wednesday, he tweeted he would be back for Saturday’s launch attempt.

NASA and SpaceX have said that despite the spectacle of the milestone and the pressure of the president and vice president’s presence, they would postpone the launch if conditions were too risky.

For NASA, too, there is the added pressure that the space station may go without an American crew member. But Bridenstine, the NASA Administrator, said the agency has done all it can to mitigate that pressure by purchasing a more than $80 million seat on a Russian Soyuz rocket in October.

“We want people to feel free to say, ‘No,‘ and not feel any pressure to go on this launch,” he said.

The astronaut’s families will have to go through the emotions of launch day again this weekend.

On Wednesday, they waited outside the historic doors of the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Facility for Behnken and Hurley to exit, the astronauts wearing their sleek, black-and-white SpaceX spacesuits.

Pence, SpaceX founder Elon Musk and Bridenstine also looked on, waiting for them next to the two, white Tesla Model X SUVs that took them out to Kennedy Space Center’s launch pad 39A.

As the astronauts walked out, their children, Behnken’s son Theodore, 6, and Hurley’s son Jack, 10, spread their arms wide, as if giving a virtual hug. Their dads did the same.

“Love you!” shouted Behnken, then, “Here comes the big hug!”

“Enjoy the day, OK?” Hurley told Jack. Both of the boys were wearing Tshirts designed by local shop Space Shirts. Hurley’s was black, with the words “Hurley Ground Crew,” and Behnken’s son Theo’s was navy, with the words, “Team Bob.”

As the astronauts climbed into the car, their families gathered on either side.

Jack put his hand on the glass.

SpaceX founder Elon Musk said the moment really had an emotional punch for him.

“We’ve done everything we can to make sure your dads come back OK,” Musk said he told the boys.

JOE BURBANK/ORLANDO SENTINEL Astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley were strapped in and ready to go by 4 p.m. Wednesday, with the teams reporting no issues with the rocket. It was the tumultuous weather outside that wasn’t going to calm down in time.