It is another cliffhanger at Cape Canaveral Saturday as two veteran NASA astronauts sit strapped into their state-of-the-art SpaceX capsule for the historic Demo-2 Mission launch this afternoon. But once again, rainy Florida weather is hanging over the Kennedy Space Center, threatening to derail the mission.
Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken, best friends since 2000 and both married to astronauts, rolled up to launch pad 39A in the early afternoon. They’re ready for a mission to the International Space Station with Elon Musk’s space venture that will be the first time a private company has sent humans into orbit.
But before they got in the Teslas taking them to launch pad, Behnken said goodbye to his 6-year-old son Theodore. Behnken has spoken in the past about talking to his son truthfully about the risks of spaceflight.
“Are you going to listen to your mom and make her life easy?” Behnken asked his son.
His boy seemed to nod yes and then said: “Let’s light this candle.”
Behnken then said, “Let’s light this candle? Yes! Launch America!”
Both men are already suited up, and have taken their seats inside the brand-new Dragon capsule.
But the weather could complicate the plans for the scheduled 3:22 pm. liftoff, which is being attended by President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence. The launch could be postponed to Sunday, when forecasts call for weather 60 percent favorable for launch, or be pushed to Tuesday.
If it goes ahead as planned, the mission will be the first time in nearly a decade that the country has launched astronauts into orbit from US soil.