Elon Musk’s SpaceX’s landmark manned mission to the International Space Station was postponed due to bad weather. Thunder and lightning prevailed, hindering the launch, just as NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley had gotten strapped in for take-off.
Falcon-9, the shuttle that was to be launched, is tentatively scheduled to be launched on Saturday by NASA and SpaceX if the weather improves. Saturday’s launch will take place slightly earlier, at 15.22 local time [20.22 BST].
It is astonishing to note that if the mission proves to be successful, SpaceX will be the first ever private-organisation in the world to achieve this milestone.
The US President Donald Trump who had come to witness the launch went back to the White House after it got cancelled. The astronauts have been kept in quarantine, since this mission is being carried out amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
The rocket was set to be launched on 4:33 pm (2033 GMT) from the Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39A. Neil Armstrong and his Apollo 11 crewmates lifted off from the same spot on their historic journey to the Moon.