Watch: Historic SpaceX Launch Postponed Due To Weather
UPDATED AT 1:24 P.M.: LOS ANGELES, CA — Hawthorne-based SpaceX Wednesday had to postpone its historic launch of astronauts into space on the company's Crew Dragon spacecraft because of stormy weather in Florida. The next launch attempt will be in three days. It will be the first-ever manned space launch testing the breakthrough technology and the first time astronauts have launched from American soil since the space shuttle program was retired nearly a decade ago. If all goes as planned, it will also be the first time a private company ever launched astronauts into Earth’s orbit.
The two astronauts were strapped in the Crew Dragon and awaiting lift-off Wednesday when the launch was called off less than 20 minutes before takeoff. Nearly a million fans were watching NASA's live streaming launch, listening to the astronauts communicating with the crew in Hawthorne at SpaceX. The next launch attempt is set for 12:22 p.m. PST on Saturday .
SpaceX has been testing the technology over the last few years, launching satellites into space with the goal of eventually propelling humans into space with the reusable and, therefore, more affordable rockets. If successful, such launches could revolutionize and privatize space exploration. Viewers around the world are expected to tune in and watch the historic launch.
"This is a unique moment where all of America can take a moment and look at our country do something stunning again — and that is launch American astronauts on American rockets from American soil," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said.
As of Tuesday morning, NASA officials said the weather forecast was 60 percent favorable for the scheduled launch from Cape Canaveral in Florida. Backup launch windows are scheduled for 12:22 p.m. PT on Saturday and noon Sunday.
Launching from the Kennedy Space Center's historic Launch Complex 39A, SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft will carry veteran astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley on what is technically a demonstration flight, showing the capabilities of the SpaceX ship, which will be propelled by one of the company's signature Falcon 9 rockets.
SpaceX will attempt to recover the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket by landing it on a floating barge — dubbed "Of Course I Still Love You" — floating in the Atlantic Ocean.
Astronauts haven't launched into space from American soil since the space shuttle program was retired in 2011. Traveling to the International Space Station is now done aboard Russian Soyuz rockets launched from Kazakhstan.
SpaceX conducted an unmanned test flight of the Crew Dragon capsule in March 2019, sending the spacecraft to the International Space Station with an array of cargo and a mannequin playfully named Ripley, after Sigourney Weaver's character in the "Alien" film series.
The company and its founder, Elon Musk, have dubbed the space station trips a steppingstone for bolder plans, most notably returning to the moon and, ultimately, flying crewed missions to Mars.
Once launched, the Crew Dragon with its two occupants will orbit the Earth, with Hurley and Behnken testing flight capabilities of the spaceship, although it is designed to essentially fly itself and autonomously dock with the space station.
The ship is scheduled to arrive at the space station about 8:30 a.m. Thursday PT.
A date has not yet been set for the ship — and Hurley and Behnken — to return to Earth.
NASA Deputy Administrator James Morhard said the return of American flight capabilities to the space station is critical to future research.
"Why are we here? We're here to expand the human condition for all mankind," he said. "Right now, we've got one astronaut on the space station, and when we get the full complement back, we're going to increase our research up there by 300 percent, and that's about helping others. That's why we exist."
Bridenstine said he believes the launch will be a unifying national event at a time of frazzled nerves and heightened political divisions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"This space program that we have in this country unites people, period," he said. "It always has. We look at the most divisive times in American history. We think about the Vietnam War, the 1960s, not just the war, but the protests. We think about the civil rights abuses and the civil rights protests. The very divisive, challenging times. And here we are all these years later in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, and we have this moment in time where we can unite people again."
City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on the Los Angeles Patch
