Following poor weather conditions, SpaceX and NASA aborted the Dragon DM-2 mission today, with next attempt set for May 30, 2020.
Owing to weather concerns, NASA and SpaceX today scrubbed the launch of the Dragon 2 spacecraft as part of the DM-2 demonstration mission aimed at certifying the vehicle as being capable of delivering astronauts to the International Space Station. Heading into today’s launch, weather conditions had continued to remain tricky, with forecasts consistently predicting unfavorable conditions for recovering astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley in case of a launch abort prior to the Falcon 9 launch vehicle propelling the Dragon to the International Space Station (ISS).
Today’s launch was intended to mark a crucial point in the partnership between the Hawthorne, California-based aerospace launch service provider and equipment manufacturer and the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) that aimed to bring down launch costs to the ISS and to launch astronauts from American soil. The Dragon 2 is capable of taking seven astronauts to the ISS, with multiple redundancies built in its design to ensure that they are capable of aborting in case any anomaly is detected.
