Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Space
  3. News

SpaceX resupply mission to ISS delayed until tomorrow due to weather

By
Add as a preferred source on Google

SpaceX had been due to launch a resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) in the early hours of this morning, Saturday, August 28, but the launch has been delayed due to poor weather. The launch is now rescheduled for tomorrow, Sunday, August 29.

SpaceX sends resupply missions to the ISS as part of its partnership with NASA. Under the Commercial Resupply Services program, NASA pays private companies to take over some of the duties of sending supplies and research equipment to the astronauts on the space station. Currently, along with SpaceX which uses its Cargo Dragon craft for the missions, the company Northrop Grumman uses Cygnus craft for resupply missions as well. In the future, these two providers will be joined by the Sierra Nevada Dream Chaser robotic craft in resupplying the ISS.

The Falcon 9 rocket from SpaceX with the Cargo Dragon spacecraft atop stands at the launch pad at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The Falcon 9 rocket from SpaceX with the Cargo Dragon spacecraft atop stands at the launch pad at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. SpaceX

This morning, SpaceX was set to launch a Cargo Dragon craft using a Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. However, there was poor weather in the form of storms in the area so the launch had to be called off.

Recommended Videos

Due to poor weather conditions in the area, @NASA and @SpaceX are now targeting Sunday, Aug. 29 at 3:14 a.m. ET for the launch of the 23rd cargo resupply services mission.

Live coverage will begin tomorrow at 2:45 a.m. ET: https://t.co/ZMidbp1daR pic.twitter.com/EG5IqFbf5u

— NASA's Kennedy Space Center (@NASAKennedy) August 28, 2021

Instead, the launch is scheduled to go ahead at the same time tomorrow: 3:14 a.m. ET (12:14 a.m. PT) on Sunday, August 29. You can watch along with the launch live as it happens via NASA TV, which you can watch either using the video embedded below or by visiting NASA’s website. Coverage of the launch begins at 2:45 a.m. ET (11:45 p.m. PT on Saturday, August 28).

NASA Live: Official Stream of NASA TV

In a fun occurrence, as reported by space.com, a satellite from the company Maxar Technologies spotted the Falcon 9 and Cargo Dragon as they sat on the launch site. The company shared an image on Twitter of the launch site and the rocket which it said it captured “through the clouds” using its WorldView-2 satellite.

We got a nice look through the clouds at LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center, Florida of @SpaceX’s #Falcon9 rocket that will launch a Dragon 2 spacecraft on its third cargo resupply mission to the @Space_Station. Launch is scheduled for August 28 at 3:37 am EDT. pic.twitter.com/Y2OJDV7LQ6

— Maxar Technologies (@Maxar) August 27, 2021

To learn more about the cargo resupply launch including details about the experiments that will be carried to the astronauts to research on board the ISS, check out our full post on how to watch the launch live.

Georgina Torbet
Georgina Torbet
Former Space Writer
Georgina has been the space writer at Digital Trends space writer for six years, covering human space exploration, planetary…
Topics
SpaceX Starship reaches orbit for the first time but its historic flight ends early
Starship reaches orbit for the first time and deploys 26 Starlink satellites before an early splashdown.
spacex-starship

After 13 suborbital test flights and more than $15 billion in development costs, SpaceX's Starship has finally reached orbit. The 407-foot megarocket, the most powerful ever built, lifted off from Starbase, Texas, on Monday and delivered its first real payload on it's 14th attempt. The celebration came with an asterisk, though, since SpaceX had to cut the planned 10-hour mission to roughly three hours.

https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/2104601695711904180

Read more
Starship is finally going orbital, and SpaceX has picked September 22
Flight 14 is aiming for orbit, Starlink V3 deployment and a very long day in space.
Starship rocket.

SpaceX is finally ready to give Starship its biggest test yet. The company says the massive rocket's 14th test flight is scheduled for September 22, when it will attempt to put the upper stage into Earth orbit for the first time. The launch is currently pending regulatory approval, with a 75-minute window opening at 7:15 a.m. CT.

Starship has 26 Starlink satellites to deliver

Read more
Want a city on the Moon? Scientists say there’s not enough water
A billion tons still comes up short
Artist impression of activities in a Moon Base.

For decades, humanity has looked up at the Moon and wondered what it would be like to live on it. Think sprawling cities, factories, research centers, and permanent human settlements. Unfortunately, there is one fairly fundamental problem with that vision.

A new study published in Frontiers in Space Technologies argues that even the Moon's potentially enormous reserves of frozen water may be nowhere near enough to support city-sized populations sustainably. Researchers Martin Elvis and Jonathan McDowell estimate that the permanently shadowed regions near the lunar poles could contain roughly one billion tons of water. It sounds like an extraordinary amount until you put a million thirsty humans next to it.

Read more