SpaceX, NASA move Crew-9 launch over fears of Helene's track toward Florida | CPT PPP Coverage

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Mission managers have been closely monitoring Tropical Storm Helene’s forecast track as SpaceX and NASA prepare to launch one American astronaut and one Russian cosmonaut to the International Space Station.

SpaceX was initially scheduled to launch a Falcon 9 rocket with the Crew Dragon spacecraft carrying two men into orbit on Thursday afternoon from Florida’s Space Coast. However, Helene is set to make landfall on Florida’s opposite coast sometime late Thursday, potentially as a major hurricane, so crews have shifted the launch to no earlier than 1:17 p.m. EDT on Saturday, Sept. 28.

NASA, SpaceX and Roscosmos completed a Flight Readiness Review for the Crew-9 mission on Monday at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. 

SpaceX teams rolled the rocket to Launch Complex 40 on Tuesday at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. This will be SpaceX’s first human spaceflight at this launchpad. All the company’s previous launches with crew took place up the road at neighboring NASA’s Kennedy Space Center launchpad 39A.

A SpaceX Crew Dragon for the Crew-9 mission on top of the Falcon 9 rocket at LC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. 

(SpaceX)

“Although Tropical Storm Helene is moving through the Gulf of Mexico and expected to impact the Florida panhandle, the storm system is large enough that high winds and heavy rain are expected in the Cape Canaveral and Merritt Island regions on Florida’s east coast,” NASA said Tuesday. 

Calm seas and conditions are also needed in the Atlantic, where the Dragon would land in the event of a launch abort. Rain, lightning, wind and cloud cover could further delay a rocket launch. 

SPACEX POLARIS DAWN CREW COMPLETES FIRST PRIVATE SPACEWALK

This graphic shows the forecast track for Tropical Storm Helene.

(FOX Weather)

When the launch happens, NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will dock at the ISS and spend about five months in space. 

When they return, the Crew-9 astronauts will be joined by NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, who arrived at the ISS in June on Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft. The astronauts will be returning to Earth via SpaceX due to issues with the Starliner, forcing NASA to make the decision to return the Starliner to Earth earlier this month without its test flight crew.