CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (WLNS) – The launch of a SpaceX rocket ship with two NASA astronauts on a history-making flight into orbit has been called off with 16 minutes to go in the countdown because of the danger of lightning.
SpaceX will begin removing propellant from the Falcon 9 rocket and then the astronauts will exit the Crew Dragon spacecraft.
Liftoff is rescheduled for Saturday, May 30th at 3:22 p.m.
NASA and SpaceX have scrubbed today’s launch attempt of the Demo-2 test flight to the International Space Station with astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley due to unfavorable weather conditions around Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, according to a statement released on the NASA website.
The spacecraft was set to blast off Wednesday at 4:33 p.m. for the International Space Station.
The commercial spaceflight would have been the first launch of astronauts from U.S. soil in nearly a decade.
Ever since the space shuttle was retired in 2011, NASA has relied on Russian rockets to carry astronauts to and from the space station.
SpaceX will begin removing propellant from the Falcon 9 rocket and then the astronauts will exit the Crew Dragon spacecraft. Launch coverage will continue until the crew has left the pad for Astronaut Crew Quarters.
