Poor weather halts SpaceX resupply mission to space station

Washington: The planned launch of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft for a commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station on Thursday was scrubbed due to poor weather.

Liftoff was targeted for 1755 hours (EDT) on June 1 (0325 hours on Friday India time) from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.

"Standing down due to lightning. Backup launch opportunity on Saturday, June 3 at 5:07 p.m. EDT or 21:07 UTC," SpaceX tweeted.

There is a 70 per cent chance of favourable weather for Saturday's planned launch of the 11th SpaceX cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station, NASA scientists wrote in a blogpost on Friday.

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Liftoff of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled for 5:07 p.m. EDT (2:37 a.m. Sunday India time) from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.

The vehicle is carrying a Dragon spacecraft loaded with about 2,721.5 kg of experiments and supplies bound for the space station.

The payload will include important materials to support more than 250 science and research investigations taking place during Expeditions 52 and 53.

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The flight will deliver investigations and facilities that study neutron stars, osteoporosis, solar panels, tools for Earth-observation, and more.