NASA postpones SpaceX's crewed mission to ISS due to bad weather minutes before launch

Reuters photo

Minutes before launch, world's premier space agency NASA on Wednesday (May 27) postponed the launch of its most-awaited mission to take American astronauts to International Space Station (ISS) from the US after around a decade.

NASA decided to postponed the Demo-2 mission due to bad weather. The next opportunities to launch are Saturday at 3:22 pm Eastern Time and Sunday at 3 pm. “‘We are not going to launch today. Due to the weather conditions, the launch is scrubbing. Our next opportunity will be Saturday, May 30 at 3:22 pm ET. Live #LaunchAmerica coverage will begin at 11 am ET,” tweeted NASA.

Several people had gathered along Space Coast in Florida to watch the launch and the Falcon rocket developed by private firm SpaceX was on the launchpad when the mission was aborted.

NASA had joined hands with SpaceX to launch astronauts Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken on a mission to the ISS at 4:33 pm Eastern Time on Wednesday.

The launch of ‘Demo-2’ is significant because it is the first flight of NASA crews from the US soil since 2011 and the first launch of a rocket developed by a private company. It is to be noted that SpaceX is owned by billionaire businessman Elon Musk.

"There wasn`t really a lightning storm, but there was a concern that if we did launch it could trigger lightning," NASA chief Jim Bridenstine said. He, however, appeared confident and said that the aborted countdown was a valuable "wet dress rehearsal."

"This was an important milestone, just today. We learn a lot every time we do these things," he said on NASA TV. 

Launch director Mike Taylor said that several unspecified "weather violations" were responsible for halting the mission. 

The 53-year-old astronaut Hurley and Behnken, 49, had been strapped into their seats for around two hours before NASA decided to call off the historic launch.
"Everybody did great today. It was a great practice, and we`ll do it again on Saturday," Hurley said just before climbing out of the capsule.