Weather not good for SpaceX launch from Cape Canaveral to International Space Station

Update: Weather scrubs SpaceX's launch of its Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 40. Next attempt is at 6:01 p.m. Thursday. 

While India successfully launched a mission Monday to land a rover on the moon — and if successful would become the fourth country to have a soft landing on the lunar surface — SpaceX, meanwhile, is gearing up to launch its Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral to the International Space Station on Wednesday.

For its 18th mission under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services contract, the aerospace company is targeting the launch of its Dragon spacecraft atop a Falcon 9 rocket on July 24, or the 50th anniversary of when Apollo 11 splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. 

But weather isn't looking so great for this week.

SpaceX Falcon 9:Things to know about launch from Cape Canaveral to International Space Station

Scheduled to blast off at 6:24 p.m. from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 40, weather conditions are forecast as 30% "go" for launch as calculated by the Air Force.

It doesn't get any better in the event of a delay, either, staying the same at 30% "go" on Thursday. 

"A weak tropical disturbance currently across the Bahamas will track northwest and bring an increasing threat of showers and thunderstorms to the Space Coast," according to the 45th Weather Squadron. "Thus, the primary concerns for launch are cumulus clouds and their associated anvil clouds, as well as lightning." 

This will be the third time this particular Dragon capsule visits the space station, according to SpaceX. It had previously docked at the ISS on April 2015 and again in December 2017.

Scheduled to dock at the space station at 7 a.m. Friday, Dragon will deliver hundreds of pounds of supplies to support over 250 science investigations currently being conducted onboard.

The rocket's first stage booster meanwhile will target an automatic landing at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Landing Zone 1 shortly after liftoff. 

Some of the science projects being flown up include a 3D printer that could one day print human organs from space; Children's television network Nickelodeon is sending slime to teach students about how fluid flows in microgravity.

Contact Jaramillo at 321-242-3668 or antoniaj@floridatoday.com. Follow her on Twitter at @AntoniaJ_11.

Launch Wednesday

• Rocket: SpaceX Falcon 9
• Mission: SpaceX CRS-18 
• Launch Time: 6:24 p.m.
• Launch Window: Instantaneous
• Launch Pad: 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
• Landing: yes, Landing Zone 1
• Weather: 30% "go"

Join floridatoday.com/space for countdown updates and chat start at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, including streaming of NASA's launch webcast 30 minutes before liftoff.