Scrub! NASA's SpaceX Crew-8 stands down from launch attempt, will try again Sunday night
Rick NealeAfter standing down Saturday night, NASA's SpaceX Crew-8 launch from Kennedy Space Center has been rescheduled with a new target liftoff time of 10:53 p.m. EST Sunday.
The Space Force's 45th Weather Squadron had only pegged the odds of "go for launch" conditions on Saturday night at 40%, citing threats of precipitation, cumulus clouds and a moderate-to-high risk of poor ascent corridor weather.
Sure enough, crews called off the launch attempt more than three hours before liftoff — before the Crew-8 astronauts had the chance to board waiting Teslas to drive to pad 39A.
"Standing down from tonight's launch of Crew-8 due to elevated winds in Dragon's ascent corridor. Now targeting Sunday, March 3 for liftoff," SpaceX officials tweeted at 7:52 p.m.
As a result, SpaceX's uncrewed Starlink 6-41 mission — which had a Falcon 9 launch window scheduled to open Sunday evening — will also be postponed.
Crew-8's Falcon 9 rocket will carry the quartet aboard the Dragon Endeavour capsule into low-Earth orbit in a northeasterly trajectory. The rocket's first-stage booster will target landing at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station 7 minutes, 38 seconds after liftoff, generating sonic booms in Brevard County.
Crew-8 consists of:
- NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick, commander.
- NASA astronaut Michael Barratt, pilot.
- NASA astronaut Jeanette Epps, mission specialist.
- Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin, mission specialist
The 45th Weather Squadron forecast shows the chance of favorable launch conditions jump up to 75% on Sunday night.
"During the back-up launch window Sunday evening, most of the shower activity is expected to be displaced across the interior and western portions of the peninsula, but a few showers and mid-level clouds may persist locally," the squadron's forecast said.
"The main concerns for Sunday evening attempt will be Flight Through Precipitation and the Cumulus Cloud Rule," the forecast said.
Below are a few updates from FLORIDA TODAY's Space Team during the run-up to Saturday's scrub.
Scrub!
Update 7:56 p.m.: Officials have called off tonight's Crew-8 launch attempt.
"Standing down from tonight's launch of Crew-8 due to elevated winds in Dragon's ascent corridor. Now targeting Sunday, March 3 for liftoff," SpaceX officials announced in a tweet.
Tomorrow's backup launch target is 10:53 p.m.
NASA's weather go/no-go call coming later
Update 7:48 p.m.: In a tweet, NASA astronaut Raja Chari — who is co-hosting the NASA TV broadcast — said officials will make a weather go/no-go call one hour before the 11:16 p.m. liftoff time.
Chari commanded the Crew-3 mission to the ISS, which launched in November 2021. His international crew spent 177 days in orbit.
SpaceX earlier: 'All systems are looking good'
Update 7:16 p.m.: The Crew-8 astronauts are suiting up as we speak. SpaceX officials last tweeted a Crew-8 mission update at 11:41 a.m.
"All systems are looking good for launch of Crew-8 tonight, and teams continue to keep an eye on weather, which is 40% favorable for liftoff," the tweet said.
For the latest news from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and NASA's Kennedy Space Center, visit floridatoday.com/space.
Rick Neale is a Space Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY (for more of his stories, click here.) Contact Neale at 321-242-3638 or rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter/X: @RickNeale1