Bad weather threatens SpaceX’s first crewed mission

Inclement weather threatens to postpone SpaceX’s launch into orbit of two NASA astronauts, a historic first for a privately owned company and the first crewed mission to blast off from US soil in almost a decade.

A thunderstorm lashes the Kennedy Space Center in the morning, and the National Hurricane Center announces a tropical storm is forming off South Carolina, presenting a possible risk if astronauts are forced to carry out an emergency landing in the Atlantic shortly after takeoff.

NASA and SpaceX officials will meet in the morning to determine whether or not to postpone to Saturday, the next possible launch window.

“Yeah, Atlantic weather review tomorrow morning will determine if we can launch,” tweets Elon Musk, the head of SpaceX, who has been waiting for this moment ever since founding his company in 2002.

For the moment, takeoff remains scheduled for 4:33 pm (20:33 GMT) from the Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39A, the same from which Neil Armstrong and his Apollo 11 crewmates lifted off on their historic journey to the Moon.

Piloted by NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule will head for the International Space Station.

The mission has proceeded despite shutdowns caused by the coronavirus pandemic, with the crew in quarantine for the past two weeks.

Space Exploration Technologies Corp. was founded in 2002, tearing up the rules to produce a lower-cost alternative to human spaceflight that has gradually won over skeptics.

— AP