NASA, SpaceX Reschedule Demo-2 Crewed Mission Launch to Saturday

NASA and SpaceX have pushed back to Saturday, May 30, the launch of the manned Demo-2 test flight mission due to unfavorable weather conditions.

“There was a concern that if we did launch, it could actually trigger lightning,” NASA Administrator and a previous Wash100 awardee Jim Bridenstine said in a statement published Wednesday. “We made the right decision.”

SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft was scheduled to lift off Wednesday, May 27, from Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard a Falcon 9 rocket to transport NASA astronauts Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken to the International Space Station as part of the space agency’s Commercial Crew Program.

Bridenstine said the launch countdown Wednesday provided an opportunity for NASA to carry out a wet dress rehearsal for astronauts.

The Demo-2 mission will serve as SpaceX’s final flight test to validate its crew transportation system.