The expected launch date is Saturday, May 30
For almost nine years we waited for this moment, the first manned launch from US soil, to be carried out by a private company, SpaceX, but we had to wait a few more days. About a quarter of an hour before the planned launch tonight, the SpaceX flight controllers informed astronauts Bob Benken and Doug Hurley that the launch procedure was stopped due to weather conditions - mainly heavy rain accompanied by thunder falling at the launch site at Cape Canaveral in Florida. As far as we know now, the new date will be Saturday, May 30, 2020. All the preparations for the launch and the condition of the Falcon 9 launcher and the Crew Dragon spacecraft were fine.
The strength of the electricity in the air is one of the dozens of criteria for launching. This rate was beyond what was allowed according to the rules of launching into space. However, beforehand there was a 40% chance of severe weather, and yet, this is what happened. Florida weather is notoriously fickle, with bursts of rain, some even from the ends of distant hurricanes, coming and going in about 20 minutes. During the last hour before the planned launch, the rain increased, and with it the fear of cancellation, until finally, about 17 minutes before the launch time, the order to cancel was given.
As of this writing, 23:30 p.m. SpaceX technicians are helping astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley free themselves from their tethers to the spacecraft seats, to allow them to go back outside. This is after the company personnel emptied the launcher tank to allow safe work.
The Demo-2 mission will be the final major step before NASA's Commercial Crew Program approves Crew Dragon for long-duration operational missions to the space station. The certification of SpaceX and permanent operation of Crew Dragon by it will allow NASA to continue the scientific and technological research that takes place on the space station. A team of four astronauts is currently training for the first commercial launch of the first private manned spacecraft.
More of the topic in Hayadan:
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Expected history today: two astronauts will be launched in a private spacecraft to the space station
- The history: the first private manned launch to the space station - on Wednesday 27/5/2020
- SpaceX launched an experimental version of the Dragon crew spacecraft to the space station (2019, unmanned launch)
