May 30, 2020
2 Astronauts Head for Launch Pad for Historic SpaceX Flight
Marcia Dunn READ TIME: 1 MIN.
Despite more storms in the forecast, two NASA astronauts have begun making their way to the launch pad for another attempt at a history-making ride into orbit aboard a rocket ship built by Elon Musk's SpaceX company.
Forecasters put the odds of acceptable conditions at 50-50 for the 3:22 p.m. liftoff Saturday of the Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 rocket in what would be the first launch of astronauts into orbit by a private company. It would also be NASA's first human spaceflight launched from U.S. soil in nearly a decade.
Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken pulled on their sleek, black-and-white spacesuits with help from technicians wearing masks, gloves and black hoods that made them look like ninjas.
Before setting out for the launch pad in a gull-wing Tesla SUV – another Musk product – Behnken pantomimed a hug of his 6-year-old son, Theo, and said: "Are you going to listen to Mommy and make her life easy?" Hurley blew kisses to his 10-year-old son and wife.
