NB: Video feed is live right now. Launch is scheduled for 1.5 hours from the time this story goes live, i.e.the launch has an instantaneous launch of 20:43 UTC or 16:43 EDT. See yesterday's stories about this launch and for a timeline and additional background information:
- SpaceX - Crew Dragon Demo-2 Launch Timeline
- SpaceX - Crew Dragon Demo-2 Launch - 2020-05-27 20:33 UTC (16:33 EDT)
According to a tweet by Eric Berger (Ars Technica's writer on all things Space and Weather):
Updated: The plan is to press ahead with today's countdown. Significant weather concerns remain, but there's a chance. The crew will suit up, and SpaceX will continue to prepare the Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon for liftoff at 4:33pm ET.
In other words, should the weather prove to be acceptable at the scheduled launch time, they want to be ready to go.
SpaceX may launch today, but weather is a huge concern:
For today's mission, we need to track weather both at the launch site for liftoff, and down range in case of potential emergencies with the rocket during the countdown or after it launches.
[...] For Kennedy Space Center and SpaceX's Launch Complex 39A, there are 12 different criteria near the pad that must be met before a launch can proceed. These include sustained winds of 30mph or below, no anvil thunderstorm clouds within 10 nautical miles, and various rules about clouds.
When the 45th Space Wing at Patrick Air Force Base in Florida provides the official forecast for a launch, it is basing its percentage solely on conditions for a particular rocket and weather at the launch site. This morning's updated forecast for today's launch attempt of SpaceX's Crew Dragon is decent, with a 50 percent chance of "violating weather constraints" at the time of launch.
However, this forecast does not include several other important considerations, most notably ascent abort weather. This is a really big concern today with the formation of Tropical Storm Bertha off the coast of South Carolina and unsettled weather in Dragon's path.
You can check the National Weather Service's web pages for their Conventional and Graphical Hourly forecasts for Titusville, FL.
Assuming the weather cooperates, check out any of these live video links:
- SpaceX YouTube Channel - Crew Demo-2
- NASA Live YouTube Channel - Official Stream of NASA TV
- NASA Kennedy Newsroom- SpaceX Falcon 9 & Crew Dragon at NASA Kennedy Pad 39A
- NASA has well over a dozen links to other ways to watch
Related Stories
(NB: A timeline of events before and after the launch are at SpaceX Crew Dragon Demo-2 Launch Timeline)
Crew Dragon Demo-2 (officially known as SpaceX Demo-2) will be the first crewed test flight of the Crew Dragon spacecraft, scheduled for launch to the International Space Station on 27 May 2020 at 20:33:33 UTC (4:33:33 PM EDT). Demo-2 will be the first crewed orbital spaceflight launched from the United States since the final Space Shuttle mission, STS-135, in 2011, on which Douglas (Doug) G. Hurley was the pilot. Hurley will be spacecraft commander on Crew Dragon Demo-2, joined by Robert (Bob) L. Behnken as joint operations commander. Crew Dragon Demo-2 will also be the first two-person orbital spaceflight launched from the United States since STS-4 in 1982.
SpaceX - Crew Dragon Demo 2 Launch:
SpaceX is targeting Wednesday, May 27 for Falcon 9’s launch of Crew Dragon’s second demonstration (Demo-2) mission from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This test flight with NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley on board the Dragon spacecraft will return human spaceflight to the United States.
The instantaneous launch window opens at 4:33 p.m. EDT, or 20:33 UTC, with backup instantaneous launch opportunities available on Saturday, May 30 at 3:22 p.m. EDT, or 19:22 UTC, and on Sunday, May 31 at 3:00 p.m. EDT, or 19:00 UTC. Tune in here[*] to watch the launch webcast. Coverage will begin about 4 hours before liftoff.
Demo-2 is the final major test for SpaceX’s human spaceflight system to be certified by NASA for operational crew missions to and from the International Space Station. SpaceX is returning human spaceflight to the United States with one of the safest, most advanced systems ever built, and NASA’s Commercial Crew Program is a turning point for America’s future in space exploration that lays the groundwork for future missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
For background on the launch, please see: Spacex - Crew Dragon Demo 2 Launch - 2020-05-27 20:33 UTC (16:33 EDT)
Here is the timeline for the upcoming SpaceX Crew Dragon Demo-2 launch slated for an instantaneous launch window of 2020-05-27 20:33 UTC (16:33 EDT):
(Note: all times are approximate)
[20200530_203823 UTC: UPDATE: Launch was successful, all systems nominal, first stage successfully landed on the drone ship "Of Course I Still Love You", and Ben and Doug are on their 19-hour flight to the ISS (International Space Station). Live coverage continues all the way through docking.]
Today's the day— weather permitting, America is returning to space:
During Wednesday's technically smooth countdown, NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken came within 17 minutes of launching before a scrub due to poor weather. Now the crew will suit up and try again on Saturday despite still iffy weather.
SpaceX is working toward an instantaneous launch at 3:22pm ET (19:22 UTC). The big concern again today is the development of thunderstorms near the launch site this afternoon, which could violate a number of weather criteria, including not just precipitation, but also residual electric energy from lighting in the atmosphere. Overall, the chance of acceptable weather at launch time is about 50 percent, forecasters estimate. They are also watching for down-range conditions in case an emergency abort is required during the rocket's ascent to space.
This is nothing new for NASA or U.S. human spaceflight. As the commander, Hurley, noted on Twitter Friday that his first space mission in 2009 scrubbed five times for weather or technical issues before it finally lifted off. "All launch commit criteria is developed way ahead of any attempt," Hurley said. "This makes the correct scrub or launch decision easier in the heat of the moment."
It has been such a long, long road for NASA and SpaceX to reach this moment—thousands of engineers and technicians have labored to design, develop, test, and fly hardware for the Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket over the last decade. But now the hardware and crew are ready, and at just the right time, to go fly.
[...] A combined NASA and SpaceX webcast will begin today at 11am ET (15:00 UTC).
Launch is scheduled for exactly 2 hours from the time this story goes live.
You can also join the discussion on channel #Soylent on IRC (Internet Relay Chat).
(Score: 0, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2020, @07:26PM (2 children)
I'm disappointed... expect more from a deity.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday May 27 2020, @07:28PM
Unlikely, unless he's channeling his inner Loki:
Tornado Warning Issued as Crowds Begin to Gather For Historic Florida Rocket Launch [weather.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 28 2020, @12:18AM
(Score: 2) by martyb on Wednesday May 27 2020, @07:37PM (1 child)
In a nod to history, SpaceX has returned stalwart John Insprucker [wikipedia.org] to announcing this flight!
Welcome back John!
Wit is intellect, dancing.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday May 27 2020, @07:42PM
If they are going to scrub, it might be in 7 minutes (T-45m).
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2020, @08:20PM
Cancelled due to "climate change".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2020, @08:21PM (3 children)
Dan brown wrote a novel where a plot point was that Not privatizing space was holding back progress and advancements in space. That view is now vindicated
https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-671-02737-7 [publishersweekly.com]
(Score: 4, Informative) by DannyB on Wednesday May 27 2020, @08:39PM
I think Boeing and other contractors would take issue with that.
They have found amazingly innovative new ways to squeeze larger amounts of taxpayer money and time from NASA.
Cost Plus contracts are a major innovation.
Unlimited taxpayer money pie in the sky!
For unlimited contract length!
What's not to like?
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Thursday May 28 2020, @03:14AM (1 child)
It's the US taxpayer who are paying for this launch (and keeping Space X from bankruptcy).
Seems like an odd definition of "privatizing space" to me.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 28 2020, @09:39AM
If you want to launch stuff to space, and can pay, SpaceX will get you there. This is exactly what the privatization of space is. It enables companies who are driven by success to compete and thrive. And that, in turn, enables the growth of other private companies due to the public opening of space as a commercial destination. In the times of Apollo you, as a private individual, could not send stuff to space at any price.
NASA is now a major customer for SpaceX, but they (SpaceX) are no longer dependent upon them in any way shape or form. SpaceX would suffer, but be fine, if NASA just disappeared tomorrow. By contrast the relationship has somewhat reversed in that if SpaceX suddenly disappeared tomorrow NASA would be in bad shape and likely end up left to continuing to buy seats on Russian launches which are now a days coming with a nice hefty fuck-you premium.
If Starlink is a success, SpaceX will likely be lush with cash - which is awesome for everybody because I do think they remain ideologically motivated, rather than motivated purely by money.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2020, @08:22PM (1 child)
Nobody was asked to "take off their engineering hat and put on their management hat". Sadly, this is a lesson that had to be learned the hard way.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by takyon on Wednesday May 27 2020, @08:26PM
Test isn't over until they get out of that upright bomb.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by TK on Wednesday May 27 2020, @08:43PM
See you all again on Saturday.
The fleas have smaller fleas, upon their backs to bite them, and those fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2020, @08:56PM (4 children)
Looks like a kids toy sitting there. Dwarfed by actual pad 39-A.
39-A still showing it signs of its history! See those 8 poles (4 on each side), they are the poles that supported the launch platform of Saturn 5s and then the Shuttle lunches. Those poles are to allow the crawler, one of the worlds largest and heaviest self-powered machines, to carry the rockets and platform from assembly to launch pad, then retreat back to protect it from the actual launch. After launch goes back out and brings the platform back for refurbishment and to be use again.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2020, @09:02PM (1 child)
What poles? The lightning towers?
Confused...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2020, @10:44PM
Look at the base [spacex.com] See the 2 row of black pole (looks more like fence from this angle) Those are the supports for the mobile lunch base.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday May 27 2020, @09:23PM
By contrast, Starship's booster will need a new thrust diverter.
https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-florida-starship-launch-pad-progress/ [teslarati.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Kell on Wednesday May 27 2020, @11:56PM
That said, it's the tool for the job: taking a bunch of astronauts and some supplies to the ISS and back. This is a station wagon: seats seven with some room for suitcases going around the corner. By contrast, the shuttle was a moving van for fitting a handful of people and a bunch of cargo in the back, going about the same distance. The saturn 5 was a long-haul highway tractor-trailer Big Rig with room in the cab for the driver and a couple of crew plus tons of equipment and cargo pulled along behind - taking a lot of stuff a long way. When it's ready, starship will be a cross-country greyhound bus: sleek, silver polished steel, packed full of people and their stuff, traveling a really long way and probably forever smelling of dirty socks and sour sandwiches.
Scientists ask questions. Engineers solve problems.