SpaceX Delays Dragon Cargo Ship Launch for NASA Due to Bad Weather

[Buster's Uncle]

Clouds, rain delay SpaceX Falcon rocket launch
Reuters
7 hours ago



The unmanned Space Exploration Technologies' Falcon 9 rocket is seen before liftoff at Cape Canaveral, Florida in this November 28, 2013 file photo. REUTERS/Michael Brown/Files



CAPE CANAVERAL Fla (Reuters) - Space Exploration Technologies delayed its cargo run to the International Space Station for NASA on Saturday after thick cloud and rain socked in its central Florida launch site.

Liftoff of the company’s Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon freighter was rescheduled for 1:53 a.m. EDT/0553 GMT on Sunday. Meteorologists expected a 60 percent chance of acceptable weather.

The mission is the fourth under the company’s 12-flight, $1.6 billion contract with NASA to fly cargo to the station, a $100 billion research complex that flies about 260 miles (420 km) above Earth.

A launch on Sunday would come just two weeks after another Falcon 9 rocket blasted off to deliver a commercial communications satellite into orbit for Hong Kong-based Asia Satellite Telecommunications Holdings Ltd.

"We are ramping up for that launch rate, and actually even more than that," Hans Koenigsmann, SpaceX vice president of mission assurance, told a news conference on Friday.

"In the future, I anticipate that this will be the norm."

SpaceX has a backlog of nearly 50 launches, worth nearly $5 billion, on its manifest for NASA and commercial satellite operators, said company spokesman John Taylor.

On Tuesday, SpaceX also won a second NASA contract, worth up to $2.6 billion, to upgrade and fly its Dragon capsules for astronauts – and potentially paying passengers as well. A crewed Dragon spaceship is targeted for a debut test flight in 2016.

(Reporting by Irene Klotz; Editing by Paul Tait)


http://news.yahoo.com/clouds-rain-delay-spacex-falcon-rocket-launch-065920957--finance.html

[Buster's Uncle]

SpaceX Delays Dragon Cargo Ship Launch for NASA Due to Bad Weather
SPACE.com
by Megan Gannon, News Editor  8 hours ago



A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying an unmanned Dragon cargo ship bound for the International Space Station stands atop a launch pad at Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station early on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2014 in this NASA image



CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A commercial SpaceX Dragon supply ship packed with NASA experiments — including 20 mice destined for the final frontier — will have wait at least one more day to blast into space after bad weather thwarted a launch attempt early Saturday (Sept. 20).

A drizzling pre-dawn rain and thick clouds lingered over SpaceX's Florida launch pad here, forcing the company to postpone its Dragon delivery mission to the International Space Station for NASA until Sunday (Sept. 21). The SpaceX-built Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Dragon capsule is now set to launch at 1:52 a.m. EDT (0552 GMT) on Sunday.

You can watch the SpaceX launch webcast live Sunday on Space.com, courtesy of NASA TV. The webcast will begin at 12:45 a.m. EDT (0445 GMT).

"We have scrubbed today's launch opportunity because of inclement weather," NASA spokesman Mike Curie said during the countdown commentary about a half hour before the targeted 2:14 a.m. EDT (0614 GMT) launch time on Saturday.

SpaceX's Dragon is carrying some unusual cargo among its 2.5 tons of astronaut supplies, science experiments and new hardware being hauled to the space station. That haul includes 20 mice that will live inside a new rodent habitat, the first 3D printer built for space and a NASA device called RapidScat, designed to track ocean winds on Earth from the space station.

The forecast for Sunday calls for a 60-percent chance of good launch weather for SpaceX's Falcon 9 and Dragon, according to NASA weather experts. If all goes well, the Dragon spacecraft will arrive at the station on Tuesday (Sept. 23) and be captured by astronauts using the outpost's robotic arm.



An unmanned SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule sits atop its Falcon 9 rocket at the private spaceflight company's launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Sept. 19, 2014. Bad weather prevented a planned early-morning launch


"We're hoping the weather will be more favorable," Curie said.

The mission is the fourth of 12 SpaceX delivery missions to the space station using its Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rockets. The Hawthorne, California-based company has a $1.6 billion contract with NASA for those resupply flights. NASA also has a separate cargo delivery contract with the Virginia-based company Orbital Sciences, which uses its own Antares rockets and Cygnus spacecraft for the flights.

Earlier this week, NASA also picked SpaceX as one of two companies that will fly American astronauts to the station on commercial space taxis. The space agency tapped SpaceX's manned Dragon Version 2 spacecraft and the Boeing CST-100 capsule as the future ferry ships for U.S. astronauts headed to the International Space Station.

Visit Space.com early Sunday for complete coverage of SpaceX's latest Dragon launch for NASA. To follow the countdown with live updates, visit our partner Spaceflight Now's Mission Status Center.


http://news.yahoo.com/spacex-delays-dragon-cargo-ship-launch-nasa-due-071648808.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Weather forces delay to SpaceX mission to space station
AFP
15 hours ago



Thick clouds and rain over the Florida coast early Saturday forced the California-based SpaceX to postpone the launch of its Dragon cargo carrier to deliver food and supplies to the International Space Station (AFP Photo/)



Washington (AFP) - Thick clouds and rain over the Florida coast early Saturday forced the California-based SpaceX to postpone the launch of its Dragon cargo carrier to deliver food and supplies to the International Space Station.

Another attempt is planned for early Sunday at 1:52 am (0552 GMT) from Cape Canaveral, Florida, when the weather forecast is 40 percent favorable for launch.

The journey by SpaceX's unmanned Dragon cargo capsule would be the fifth for SpaceX, and the fourth in a series of SpaceX's contracted supply missions with NASA.

The supply ship is carrying 5,000 pounds (2,300 kilograms) of supplies, food and equipment for the six-member crew at the orbiting outpost.

SpaceX in 2010 became the first private company to send a spacecraft to the ISS.

The company is run by Internet mogul Elon Musk, who accumulated his fortune by co-founding PayPal and also runs Tesla Motors.

SpaceX this week was awarded a $2 billion contract from NASA to continue developing its Dragon V2 vehicle with the goal of sending people to the space station as early as 2017.

Boeing won a larger NASA contract, more than $4 billion, for the development of its CST-10 crew vehicle.


http://news.yahoo.com/weather-forces-delay-spacex-mission-space-station-061102980.html