SpaceX presses ahead in historic 1st launch of astronauts
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Despite more storms in the forecast, SpaceX pressed ahead Saturday in its historic attempt to launch astronauts for NASA, a first by a private company.
Forecasters put the odds of acceptable conditions at 50-50 for the 3:22 p.m. liftoff of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket — the first launch from the U.S. with NASA astronauts in nearly a decade.
SpaceX and NASA managers monitored the weather not just at Kennedy Space Center, but all the way up the Eastern Seaboard and across the North Atlantic to Ireland. Waves and wind needed to be within limits in case the SpaceX Dragon crew capsule, carrying Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken, needed to make an emergency splashdown on the way to orbit.
Their destination is the International Space Station, a 19-hour flight away.
"We are moving forward with launch today. Weather challenges remain with a 50% chance of cancellation," NASA Administrator Bridenstine tweeted.
Wednesday's countdown was halted at just under 17 minutes because of the threat of lightning. “Falcon/Dragon are designed to withstand multiple lightning strikes, but we don’t think it would be wise to take this risk,” tweeted Elon Musk, SpaceX's chief executive and founder.
Hurley and Behnken noted Friday that they endured numerous delays on their space shuttle flights, for both technical and weather reason. Hurley said his first mission was postponed five times over the course of a month. His second mission was NASA's final space shuttle flight in July 2011, the last time astronauts rocketed away from home soil.
President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence planned to return for the second launch attempt. And early Saturday morning, spectators began lining the Banana and Indian rivers in surrounding towns for front-row views. Signs along the main drag along the beaches urged...
