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Downrange weather forces NASA and SpaceX to delay Crew-2 launch

Emre Kelly
Florida Today

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Update: LIFTOFF of Crew-2 mission from Kennedy Space Center at 5:49 a.m. ET! Astronauts Kimbrough, McArthur, Hoshide, and Pesquet are officially en route to the ISS. They're slated to arrive just after 5 a.m. Eastern time Saturday. Read the full story here.

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Weather conditions along the flight path of NASA and SpaceX's next crewed launch to the International Space Station forced teams to stand down from Thursday's attempt, setting the stage for a 24-hour delay. 

A Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon capsule are now slated to launch the Crew-2 mission from Kennedy Space Center at 5:49 a.m. Friday, the opening of an instantaneous window at pad 39A. That means the mission must launch exactly on time or delay to another day.

While liftoff conditions immediately around and above pad 39A looked 80% favorable for Thursday's liftoff, forecasts showed inclement weather along the planned northeastern trajectory. In the event of an emergency, Crew Dragon can fire its SuperDraco engines to propel the capsule – and the crew inside – away from the rocket below, but doing so requires relatively calm at-sea conditions.

"We have to worry about the entire ascent trajectory because if something goes wrong, we want Dragon to be able to launch-escape off the rocket," Benji Reed, SpaceX's director of human spaceflight, said Tuesday at KSC. "That means they will have to be able to come down in the ocean at all points along that escape path."

Rough conditions in the Atlantic would make it difficult, if not dangerous, to recover astronauts from the capsule.

The forecast for Friday, meanwhile, looks a little better: 90% "go" for liftoff, according to the Space Force's 45th Weather Squadron, with at-sea conditions listed as "low-risk." Upper-level winds were also noted as likely to be favorable.

After liftoff, Falcon 9's first stage will target a drone ship landing just northeast of Florida.

NASA and SpaceX's Crew-2 mission includes astronauts Shane Kimbrough, Megan McArthur, Akihiko Hoshide, and Thomas Pesquet. All four are spaceflight veterans and their flight will include about six months of science and maintenance work on the ISS.

For the latest, visit floridatoday.com/launchschedule.

Contact Emre Kelly at aekelly@floridatoday.com or 321-242-3715. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @EmreKelly. Support space journalism by subscribing at floridatoday.com/specialoffer/.

Launch Friday, April 23

  • Rocket: SpaceX Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon capsule
  • Mission: Crew-2 mission to International Space Station
  • Astronauts: Shane Kimbrough (NASA), Megan McArthur (NASA), Aki Hoshide (JAXA), Thomas Pesquet (ESA)
  • Launch Time: 5:49 a.m. ET
  • Launch Window: Instantaneous; must launch on time
  • Landing: Drone ship
  • Weather: 90% "go"

Visit floridatoday.com/space at 1:30 a.m. Friday, April 22, for live video and updates.