CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – SpaceX scrubbed its in-flight abort test Saturday after weather conditions threatened the Crew Dragon Capsule’s recovery process.
The company made the announcement on Twitter at 5 a.m., citing sustained winds and rough seas in the recovery area before even reaching the launch window.
SpaceX’s original launch window was from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., the company announcing it would likely make its attempt an hour before the window would close, unless weather conditions proved to be too much of an issue.
Standing down from today’s in-flight Crew Dragon launch escape test attempt due to sustained winds and rough seas in the recovery area. Now targeting Sunday, January 19, with a six-hour test window opening at 8:00 a.m. EST, 13:00 UTC
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 18, 2020
Now the Falcon 9 rocket launch is scheduled for Sunday at Kennedy Space Center with an extended window opening at 8 a.m. and closing at 2 p.m.
During the launch, SpaceX plans to purposely trigger an abort to test its astronaut spacecraft’s emergency abort system and in the process destroys its rocket over the Atlantic Ocean.
The in-flight abort test is the final step SpaceX must take to certify its spacecraft to fly NASA astronauts, possibly as soon as later this year.