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martyb [soylentnews.org] writes:

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 [nasa.gov] 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 [af.mil] 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.

If something goes wrong during the first 8 minutes of flight (before it reaches orbit), recovery conditions along the flight path need to be acceptable, too.

You can check the National Weather Service's web pages for their Conventional [weather.gov] and Graphical Hourly [weather.gov] forecasts for Titusville, FL.

Assuming the weather cooperates, check out any of these live video links:

• SpaceX YouTube Channel - Crew Demo-2 [youtube.com]
• NASA Live YouTube Channel - Official Stream of NASA TV [youtube.com]
• NASA Kennedy Newsroom- SpaceX Falcon 9 & Crew Dragon at NASA Kennedy Pad 39A [youtube.com]
• Well over a dozen links to other ways to watch [nasa.gov]

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