CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – SpaceX scrubbed its the Thursday launch of its Falcon 9 Thursday evening from Kennedy Space Center due to lightning and inclement weather, WKMG reports.
The next launch window is Saturday at 5:07 p.m.
Thursday’s launch conditions were 70 percent “go” for a 5:55 p.m. Falcon 9 liftoff to the International Space Station, but forecasters said storms could impact the launch depending on weather moving into Central Florida. SpaceX announced the scrub at 5:36 p.m.
The same Dragon capsule made a station delivery almost three years ago. After a few modifications and testing the spacecraft is packed again and ready for another trip.
The capsule is loaded with more than 250 science experiments including one that will use fruit flies to study the effects of microgravity on the heart and another designed to study flame behavior in space conditions.
Thursday afternoon, there was a 60 percent chance of storms, News 6 meteorologist Troy Bridges said.
“Sea breeze storms will fire up after 2 p.m. Thursday and some storms could stick around through launch time,” Bridges said.
Precipitation and cloud cover were listed as possible weather concerns for Thursday’s instant launch window, according to the Air Force’s 45th Weather Squadron.
SpaceX successfully completed a static fire test Saturday, also sparking a small wildfire at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.
The launch would have marked the 100th from historic Kennedy Space Center pad 39A, where Apollo 11 launched to the moon.
SpaceX was also targeting another booster landing about 10 minutes after launch at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Landing Zone 1.
Follow updates leading up to the launch and watch it live here at ClickOrlando.com/space.