On Monday, NASA certified SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule for human spaceflight – the first time the US space agency has done so in 40 years. Built and tested by the Elon Musk firm, the Crew Dragon earned its wings last May when it safely flew astronauts Bob Behnken and Dough Hurley on a test flight to the ISS. Four astronauts – NASA’s Shannon Walker, Victor Gover and Michael Hopkins, together with Japan’s Soichi Noguchi – are now pencilled in to blast off this Saturday, November 14.
The revised launch date comes after several delays to NASA’s Commercial Crew programme as the mission, dubbed Crew-1, was originally expected to launch in 2016.
And the mission may be delayed once more if poor weather on Saturday forces NASA’s to scrub the launch.
On Tuesday, the space agency confirmed there was a 60 percent chance of favourable launch conditions.
Launch forecasts are issued by the US Air Force’s 45th Weather Squadron.
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The 45th Weather Squadron, for example, delivered the bad news in May, forcing NASA and SpaceX to scrub the first crewed launch of the Dragon, just 17 minutes before liftoff.
Concerns could be raised this weekend over rain clouds and systems associated with Tropical Storm Eta.
NASA said: “The US Air Force 45th Weather Squadron predicts a 60 percent chance of favourable weather conditions at the launch pad for lift off of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 mission based on Falcon 9 Crew Dragon launch weather criteria.
“Teams will monitor weather conditions both for the launch area and downrange.
Downrange weather also plays a factor as it can impact the Dragon’s splashdown procedures, should a mission abort be initiated.
NASA said: “Downrange weather is monitored at more than 50 locations along the ascent track along the North American eastern seaboard and across the North Atlantic.
“Probability of violation is calculated for each location including limit conditions for wind, waves, lightning, and precipitation.”
Weather permitting, the launch is scheduled for 7.49pm Eastern or 12.49am GMT on Sunday.
The Crew-1 launch will see four astronauts enter the Dragon capsule strapped to SpaceX’s signature Falcon 9 rocket.
The launch is part of NASA’s Commercial Crew programme, which has sought to restore launch capabilities to US soil.
Since the end of the Space Shuttle era in 2011, NASA has bought seats on Russia’s Soyuz rockets to send crews to the ISS.
Now, NASA is taking the first steps towards cutting that reliance on Russia, thanks to SpaceX and Boeing, which is building its own spacecraft, the CST-100 Starliner.