On Saturday, Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken boarded the Space X capsule that would carry them to the International Space Station on a mission that will be NASA’s first spaceflight from U.S. soil in nine years.
The first attempt to launch the manned capsule on Wednesday was called off, with fewer than 17 minutes left on the countdown clock owing to stormy weather at Cape Canaveral’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Today’s outlook is uncertain, with a launch probability of 50-50. The Mission Managers intend to make an early call on weather hazards in an attempt to prevent burning out the team prematurely for another suit-up and after a full day of launch prep.
If dangerous weather conditions or unforeseen problems don’t arise, the 24-story-tall SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is set to take off at 3:22 PM ET, launching astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken on a 19-hour journey to the space station.
Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken will be brought to the space station via the newly designed Crew Dragon capsule, marking it’s first manned flight into orbit.
For Elon Musk, the launch is another achievement for SpaceX, invented to make spaceflight less costly and more frequent. Additionally, if the launch goes off successfully, it will mark the first time NASA astronauts have traveled aboard a privately built spaceship into the Space Station.
Doug Hurley, 53, and Bob Behnken, 49, will remain at the space station for several weeks, assisting a crew already aboard the space station.
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