At just about T minus one minute in this morning's countdown to the launch of the Crew-11 mission to the International Space Station, SpaceX called a scrub due to weather, as a dense cumulus cloud going almost exactly overhead violated launch criteria. Despite the launch being "just up the road" we were watching online because it was cloudier and looked worse around here.
"Unfortunately, the weather is just not playing alongside with today's excitement on the launch for NASA SpaceX's Crew-11," NASA commentator Derrol Nail said during today's launch coverage.
"We could literally see the clouds kind of going over top of our heads, getting close to the pad, and the standoff area is a 10-mile radius around the pad for these dark clouds, cumulous clouds, and that is a safety factor," Nail added. "That is because you don't want to send a rocket through a tall cloud like that — that could generate some energy from the rocket passing through it."
Screen capture from the video posted at Space.com Image credit: SpaceX
As of this evening, they've completed the weather review for Friday's launch window and have been cleared to try again on Friday.
NASA and SpaceX continue to target 11:43 a.m. EDT Friday, Aug. 1, for launch of the Crew-11 mission to the International Space Station from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
After the launch attempt was scrubbed Thursday for weather, mission teams completed a weather review for the next opportunity, and conditions around the launch pad are forecast at 75% favorable for liftoff. However, conditions along the flight path of Dragon remain a watch item. Acceptable weather conditions at both the launch site and along the Dragon flight path are required for a “go” for liftoff.
Wow. Weather in Florida! Whodathunk?
ReplyDeleteBut, yeah, kind of sucks. Better safe than sorry.
A thunderstorm along the coast of Florida in the summer? What are the chances? Besides "almost guaranteed."
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