Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

As it happenedended1590616636

Nasa SpaceX launch - as it happened: Historic liftoff cancelled moments before takeoff over weather

Andrew Griffin
Wednesday 27 May 2020 09:02 EDT
Comments
SpaceX promo video for first crewed mission

Your support helps us to tell the story

My recent work focusing on Latino voters in Arizona has shown me how crucial independent journalism is in giving voice to underrepresented communities.

Your support is what allows us to tell these stories, bringing attention to the issues that are often overlooked. Without your contributions, these voices might not be heard.

Every dollar you give helps us continue to shine a light on these critical issues in the run up to the election and beyond

Head shot of Eric Garcia

Eric Garcia

Washington Bureau Chief

Nasa has postponed its first launch of astronauts from US soil in nine years due to bad weather, just minutes before lift-off.

Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley were due to travel to the International Space Station (ISS) on a rocket and capsule system built by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk's firm SpaceX.

But with rain and thunderstorms looming, the launch date has now been moved to Saturday at 20:22 pm UK time.

An estimated 1.7 million people from around the world tuned in to the launch from The Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.

However, as the weather conditions became worse, the US space agency "scrubbed" the mission for safety reasons less than 17 minutes before the Falcon 9 rocket was due to take off, along with the Crew Dragon spacecraft.

Please allow a moment for the live blog to load

1590612536

Former astronaut Garrett Reisman notes that Nasa has had to be plenty patient already.

Andrew Griffin27 May 2020 21:48
1590612821

Donald Trump flew all the way to Florida for today's launch, arriving not long before scheduled liftoff. He's yet to tweet.

Andrew Griffin27 May 2020 21:53
1590613014

The propellant is out of the rocket now, meaning that the astronauts can disarm their escape system, and get ready to start getting out of the rocket.

Andrew Griffin27 May 2020 21:56
1590613175

The crew arm's swinging back again, when the hatch will be opened, the seats can be rotated and they'll be ready to get back out again.

Andrew Griffin27 May 2020 21:59
1590613323

Trump has left Kennedy Space Center and is on his way back to Washington DC on Air Force One.

Andrew Griffin27 May 2020 22:02
1590613918

People are coming into the crew access arm now, so they'll be able to open up the hatch and help the astronauts out.

Andrew Griffin27 May 2020 22:11
1590614043

The astronauts are still going to have to wait a while. The Pad Crew are in the arm sorting everything out for their egress, but that's going to take 10 minutes or so.

Andrew Griffin27 May 2020 22:14
1590614589

Mark Kelly, another former astronaut, has given his take on the scrubbed launch.

Andrew Griffin27 May 2020 22:23
1590614885

We're still waiting for the astronauts to get out. (They keep being checked on to ensure they're comfortable, and they say they are – really they should be, given they were scheduled to spend hours in those seats as they headed to space, and hours more as they headed back again.)

Andrew Griffin27 May 2020 22:28
1590616067

The hatch is open and the astronauts are ready to get out.

Andrew Griffin27 May 2020 22:47

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in