Bad weather disrupts NASA’s SpaceX launch

Charlotte Eykerman & Nanor Pontigian Opinion Editor and Science & Tech Editor, The Pawprint

Yesterday (May 27) Nasa and SpaceX were ready to launch Americans into space from American soil for the first time in almost a decade.

NASA is planning to send NASA astronauts, Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley to the International Space Station on a Crew Dragon spacecraft

Unfortunately, the rocket was called off 20 minutes before it was launched due to the bad weather in Florida. The next launch window has been set for Saturday, May 30th.

For the U.S. this is an important launch since it ends their 10 year long dependency on Russia for seats to the space station. It will also mark the first time Elon Musk’s space firm, SpaceX, has launched astronauts. 

The administrator of NASA, Jim Bridenstine commented saying, “I know there’s a lot of disappointment today, the weather got us…” Bridenstine still managed to call it a great day and is still keeping the spirits up about the teamwork that NASA and SpaceX have established. 

The problem for the launch seemed to be that there was too much electricity in the atmosphere. Bridestine explained, “There wasn’t really a lightning storm or anything like that, but there was a concern that if we did launch it could trigger lightning,” he said. “In the end the right decision was made.”

President Trump said that he will be back for the launch on Saturday and he tweeted to NASA and SpaceX to thank them for their “hard work and leadership…”

This mission is currently honouring the Class of 2020. 100,000 pictures of the graduates were compiled together to form a picture of the Earth. NASA tweeted saying, “Congratulations to all of our 2020 graduates!” This mosaic will be printed and flown to space.