8A — THE OBSERVER
THURSDAY, MAY 28, 2020
NATION
Historic SpaceX launch postpones due to stormy weather
By Marcia Dunn
Associated Press
CAPE CANAVERAL,
Fla. — The launch of a
SpaceX rocket ship with
two NASA astronauts on a
history-making fl ight into
orbit was called off with 16
minutes to go in the count-
down Wednesday because
of thunderclouds and the
danger of lightning.
Liftoff was rescheduled
for Saturday afternoon.
The commercially
designed, built and owned
spacecraft was set to blast
off in the afternoon for the
International Space Sta-
tion, ushering in a new era
in commercial spacefl ight
and putting NASA back in
the business of launching
astronauts from U.S. soil
for the fi rst time in nearly a
decade.
But thunderstorms for
much of the day threatened
to force a postponement,
and the word fi nally came
down that the atmosphere
was so electrically charged
that the spacecraft with
NASA astronauts Doug
Hurley and Bob Behnken
aboard could get hit by a
bolt of lightning.
“No launch for today —
safety for our crew mem-
bers @Astro_Doug and
@AstroBehnken is our top
priority,” NASA Admin-
istrator Jim Bridenstine
tweeted, using a lightning
emoji.
The two men were
scheduled to ride into orbit
aboard the SpaceX’s bul-
let-shaped Dragon capsule
on top of a Falcon 9 rocket,
taking off from the same
launch pad used during
the Apollo moon missions
a half-century ago. Both
President Donald Trump
and Vice President Mike
Pence had arrived to watch.
The fl ight — the long-
held dream of SpaceX
founder Elon Musk —
would have marked the fi rst
time a private company sent
humans into orbit.
It would also have been
the fi rst time in nearly a
decade that the United
States launched astronauts
into orbit from U.S. soil.
Ever since the space shuttle
was retired in 2011, NASA
has relied on Russian
spaceships launched from
Kazakhstan to take U.S.
astronauts to and from the
space station.
During the day, thunder
could be heard as the astro-
nauts made their way to the
pad at NASA’s Kennedy
Space Center, and a tor-
nado warning was issued
moments after they climbed
into their capsule.
The preparations took
place in the shadow of the
coronavirus outbreak that
has killed an estimated
100,000 Americans.
“We’re launching Amer-
ican astronauts on Amer-
ican rockets from American
soil. We haven’t done this
really since 2011, so this is
a unique moment in time,”
Bridenstine said.
With this launch, he said,
“everybody can look up
and say, ‘Look, the future
is so much brighter than the
present.′ And I really hope
that this is an inspiration to
the world.”
The mission would put
Musk and SpaceX in the
same league as only three
spacefaring countries —
Russia, the U.S. and China,
all of which gave sent astro-
nauts into orbit.
“What today is about
is reigniting the dream of
space and getting people
fi red up about the future,”
he said in a NASA inter-
view before the fl ight was
scrubbed.
A solemn-sounding
Musk said he felt his
responsibilities most
strongly when he saw the
astronauts’ wives and sons
just before launch. He said
he told them: “We’ve done
everything we can to make
sure your dads come back
OK.”
NASA pushed ahead
with the launch despite
the viral outbreak but kept
the guest list at Kennedy
extremely limited and
asked spectators to stay at
home. Still, beaches and
parks along Florida’s Space
Coast are open again, and
hours before the launch,
cars and RVs already were
lining the causeway in Cape
Canaveral.
The space agency also
estimated 1.7 million people
were watching the launch
preparations online during
the afternoon.
Among the sightseers
was Erin Gatz, who came
prepared for both rain and
pandemic. Accompanied
by her 14-year-old daughter
and 12-year-old son, she
brought face masks and a
small tent to protect against
the elements.
She said the children had
faint memories of watching
in person one of the last
shuttle launches almost a
decade ago when they were
preschoolers.
“I wanted them to see
the fl ip side and get to
see the next era of space
travel,” said Gatz, who lives
in Deltona, Florida. “It’s
exciting and hopeful.”
NASA hired SpaceX
and Boeing in 2014 to
transport astronauts to
the space station in a new
kind of public-private part-
nership. Development of
SpaceX’s Dragon and Boe-
ing’s Starliner capsules took
longer than expected, how-
ever. Boeing’s ship is not
expected to fl y astronauts
into space until early 2021.
“We’re doing it differ-
ently than we’ve ever done
it before,” Bridenstine said.
“We’re transforming how we
do spacefl ight in the future.”
Photo by David J. Philip/AP
A SpaceX Falcon 9, with NASA astronauts Doug Hurley
and Bob Behnken in the Dragon crew capsule, prepare to
lift off Wednesday from Pad 39-A at the Kennedy Space
Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. The veicle is venting as the
mission was scrubbed. The launch of a SpaceX rocket
ship with two NASA astronauts on a history-making fl ight
into orbit was been called off with 16 minutes to go in the
countdown because of the danger of lightning.
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