NASA, SpaceX Now Target May 15 Launch for ISS Resupply Mission Following Weather Delays

May 15

NASA and SpaceX are now targeting Friday, May 15, at 6:05 p.m. EDT for the launch of the Dragon spacecraft on the CRS-34 resupply mission to the International Space Station.

This new date follows several scrubs caused by unfavorable weather. The first attempt on Tuesday was called off hours before propellant loading began due to lingering thunderstorms in the area. The most recent scrub occurred Wednesday when cloud-related weather violations forced an abort at T-28 seconds. Teams were unable to launch on Thursday so that payloads onboard could be refreshed. Weather conditions will be significantly better for Friday’s attempt with the 45th Weather Squadron predicting a 90% chance of acceptable conditions during the instantaneous launch window.

With the updated schedule, Dragon is now set to autonomously dock with the ISS at 7:00 a.m. EDT on Sunday, May 17, delivering approximately 6,500 pounds of cargo and scientific payloads to the orbiting laboratory. The spacecraft will remain docked for about one month before undocking, deorbiting, and splashing down off the coast of California.

Following stage separation, the Falcon 9 first-stage booster will perform a landing at Landing Zone 40 (LZ-40), located just a thousand feet from the launch pad. This will mark the booster’s sixth flight with its flight history consisting of: KF-01, IMAP, NROL-77, GPS III-9, and one Starlink flight.

For detailed information on the scientific payloads and experiments heading to the station, see our previous article.