SpaceX NASA Launch Delayed Until Saturday Due to Storms

The historic SpaceX launch that was scheduled for Wednesday has been delayed due to severe weather across the area.

SpaceX's Falcon 9 Dragon Crew capsule, carrying two U.S. astronauts, was set to take off from the Kennedy Space Center at 4:33 p.m. ET in Florida, but the weather forced a delay in the launch.

Prior to the delay, the Air Force's 45^th Space Wing, which oversees space launch operations across the east coast, forecasted a 50 percent chance that clouds and stormy weather would violate the established launch safety guidelines. The Space Wing stated that precipitation and cloud coverage were primary concerns for the ship's launch.

According to AccuWeather Astronomy, there was a tornado warning issued just north of the Kennedy Space Center that expired at 2:15 p.m. ET but did not include the SpaceX launch area.

Due to the weather delay, the SpaceX launch will be rescheduled to Saturday, at 3:22 p.m. ET, with the chances of good weather increasing. The Air Force's 45^th Space Wing is forecasting a 40 percent chance that the weather violates launch safety guidelines on Saturday, May 30.

Pictures and videos of ominous weather were shared across social media prior to the launch delay.

"A shelf cloud moved over the #SpaceX launch pad as #NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken were climbing into the Crew Dragon. #LaunchAmerica," AccuWeather Astronomy wrote on their Twitter account.

"Just saw a couple of bolts of lightning east towards the launch pad. A lot of thunder now too," Jonathan Petramala of AccuWeather wrote.

The crew manning the Falcon 9 ship is set to conduct a test flight to the International Space Station. Despite the delay, the launch will mark the first time since 2011 – when NASA retired its space shuttle fleet – that humans have entered orbit from U.S. soil. It will also mark the first time that NASA astronauts will fly to the space station on a commercially built aircraft.

"Our country has been through a lot," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said Tuesday in a news briefing. "But this is a unique moment when all of America can take a moment and look at our country do something stunning again, and that is to launch American astronauts on an American rocket from American soil to the space station."

Astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley will be the two men aboard the ship and after launch, they will spend approximately 19 hours orbiting earth before their rendezvous with the space station.

For the past six years, SpaceX, which is under NASA's Commercial Crew Program, has built and tested their Dragon capsule. SpaceX has launched unmanned ships to deliver supplies to the space station, but this will be the first time SpaceX launches a ship into orbit with humans aboard.

5/27/20, 4:23 p.m.: This story has been updated to include the time for the rescheduled launch on Saturday.