CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP/WFLA/WJW) — Bad weather has postponed the first launch of NASA astronauts from the Kennedy Space Center in nine years. NASA and SpaceX say they are targeting Saturday for a launch.
Around 2 p.m. Wednesday, a tornado warning was issued north of the launch site. NASA said it was monitoring a cell near Orlando that they called a “deciding factor.”
The Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron lists primary weather concerns as flight through precipitation, the anvil cloud rule and the cumulus cloud rule.
“Residual moisture with the passing low-pressure system and increased low-level convergence will threaten the Space Coast with showers and thunderstorms this afternoon,” the 45th Weather Squadron wrote.
Space veterans 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 during the Apollo moon missions a half-century ago.
Behnken and Hurley would have been the first humans to be launched from U.S. soil since 2011. the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft would have carried them to the International Space Station.
Both President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence were in Florida to watch the liftoff.
The flight would also mark the first time a private company sent humans into orbit.
Additionally, it would be the first time in nearly a decade that the United States launched 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.
The next launch opportunity will be Saturday.
