NASA and SpaceX Delay Crew-1 Launch to Sunday, Nov. 15

NASA and SpaceX have delayed the launch of Crew-1 to Sunday, November 15.

Originally scheduled to launch on Saturday, November 14, this afternoon NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine announced, “Due to onshore winds and recovery operations, @NASA and @SpaceX are targeting launch of the Crew-1 mission with astronauts to the @Space_Station at 7:27 p.m. EST Sunday, Nov. 15.”

“The first stage booster is planned to be reused to fly astronauts on Crew-2,” added Bridenstine.

https://twitter.com/JimBridenstine/status/1327357510022434816?s=20

According to Arlena Moses, launch weather officer for the U.S. Air Force, she says the chances of no-go weather on Sunday are at 40%.

“Thankfully [Tropical Storm] Eta is well out to sea and moving further with time,” said Moses.

Static fire test ✅
Inspections ✅
Dry dress rehearsal ✅

Steve Stich, manager of the @Commercial_Crew program at @NASAKennedy, explains all the steps that have been taken to ensure that the Crew-1 mission is ready for liftoff on Sunday: pic.twitter.com/5iNkhoEAo3

— NASA (@NASA) November 13, 2020

With SpaceX CEO testing both negative and positive for COVID-19, it’s unknown if he will be attending the launch in person, or watching remotely. However, Musk did tweet this afternoon, “soon”.

Soon pic.twitter.com/mWOpR7W8kk

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 13, 2020

Sunday’s launch will see NASA Crew Dragon Commander Michael Hopkins, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Shannon Walker, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Mission Specialist, Soichi Noguchi, take off and head towards the International Space Station, part of a six-month-long science mission.