It’s been a trying few days for SpaceX. On Sunday, the spaceflight company scrubbed the 10th launch of the Starship rocket as it needed to investigate an issue with the ground systems. Before the day was out, it said it would try again on Monday for a launch from its Starbase facility in southern Texas.
About three hours from liftoff on Monday, SpaceX said the weather conditions were 55% favorable for launch at 6:30 p.m. local time (7:30 p.m. ET) — hardly the clearest confirmation that the test flight would take place at the targeted time. After a couple of pauses during the final countdown, SpaceX was aiming to launch the rocket at the slightly later time of 7 p.m., but then, with 40 seconds to go, the effort was scrubbed for the second time in two days.
The company said anvil clouds in the area presented a lightning risk and so it was unable to proceed with the launch.
Several hours later, it said it will go again at the same time on Tuesday, but how’s the weather looking then?
Well, checking various weather sites, it could be another 50/50 shot. Many of the forecasts suggest that while the morning looks relatively clear, there could be clouds and perhaps rain — a couple even include the lightning symbol — in the area later in the day, around the time that SpaceX wants to launch the most powerful rocket ever built.
“Humid with variable cloudiness, becoming breezy in the afternoon with a thunderstorm in spots,” AccuWeather says in its forecast for Tuesday, while The Weather Channel says “a stray shower or thunderstorm is possible.” The National Weather Service says there’s a “40% chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly between noon and 4 p.m.,” which is two-and-a-half hours before the rocket is set to lift off.
If the weather does play nice at launch time, then we just have to hope that no technical issues arise as well.
While those watching online will be disappointed at Sunday and Monday’s scrubs, the delays are an even greater inconvenience for those who’ve traveled to the site to witness the launch in person. Space photographer Andrew McCarthy, for one, clearly intends to stick around. “Scrubbed again,” he wrote in a post on X on Monday night. “Looks like I’m pushing my flights and doing laundry in the hotel sink.”
Fingers crossed for Tuesday, then!
