{"id":15609,"date":"2016-04-07T23:12:53","date_gmt":"2016-04-07T15:12:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/mostly-clear-skies-predicted-for-fridays-spacex-launch\/"},"modified":"2016-04-07T23:12:53","modified_gmt":"2016-04-07T15:12:53","slug":"mostly-clear-skies-predicted-for-fridays-spacex-launch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/mostly-clear-skies-predicted-for-fridays-spacex-launch\/","title":{"rendered":"Mostly clear skies predicted for Friday\u2019s SpaceX launch"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_14090\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-14090\" style=\"width: 675px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14090\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/25676188954_0404a4ccca_k.jpg\" alt=\"A Falcon 9 rocket sits on its launch pad this week awaiting liftoff Friday at 2043 GMT (4:43 p.m. EDT). Credit: SpaceX\" width=\"675\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/25676188954_0404a4ccca_k.jpg 675w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/25676188954_0404a4ccca_k-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 675px) 100vw, 675px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-14090\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Falcon 9 rocket sits on its launch pad this week awaiting liftoff Friday at 2043 GMT (4:43 p.m. EDT). Credit: SpaceX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Mostly clear skies and brisk westerly winds are forecast at launch time Friday afternoon for SpaceX\u2019s first resupply mission to the International Space Station in nearly a year.<\/p>\n<p>There is a 90 percent chance weather conditions will be acceptable during an instantaneous launch opportunity set for 2043:32 GMT (4:43:32 p.m. EDT). The primary concern is with ground-level winds.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe weather looks great for launch,\u201d said Kathy Winters, a meteorologist at the U.S. Air Force Weather Squadron. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be a beautiful day, both for launching and also for viewing a launch.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A weak frontal boundary is pushing over Cape Canaveral on Thursday, and clearing skies are expected for launch day.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn Friday, skies are expected to clear behind the front with only a few lingering cirrostratus clouds associated with the jet stream digging in across the eastern U.S.,\u201d the U.S. Air Force\u2019s 45th Weather Squadron forecast says. \u201cSurface winds will remain generally offshore and gust into the low-twenties throughout most of the day on Friday.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The outlook calls for mostly clear skies with a few clouds at 35,000 feet, westerly winds at 15 to 20 mph, and a temperature of 75 degrees Fahrenheit.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_14091\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-14091\" style=\"width: 675px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14091\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/crs8patch.jpg\" alt=\"SpaceX's mission patch for the upcoming cargo mission.\" width=\"675\" height=\"599\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/crs8patch.jpg 675w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/crs8patch-300x266.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 675px) 100vw, 675px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-14091\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">SpaceX\u2019s mission patch for the upcoming cargo mission.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A Falcon 9 rocket will deliver SpaceX\u2019s commercial Dragon supply ship into orbit less than 10 minutes after liftoff, sending the cargo capsule on a one-and-a-half day chase of the International Space Station.<\/p>\n<p>The automated spaceship will arrive at the complex Sunday, when astronauts will unlimber the research lab\u2019s robotic arm to capture the freighter at 7 a.m. EDT (1100 GMT).<\/p>\n<p>The Dragon will remain attached to the space station\u2019s Harmony module until May 11, when it will depart and head for a parachute-assisted splashdown in the Pacific Ocean with scientific specimens and samples.<\/p>\n<p>The mission is SpaceX\u2019s eighth cargo launch to the space station, and its first since a launch failure in June destroyed a Dragon spacecraft minutes after liftoff.<\/p>\n<p><b><i>Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Falcon 9 rocket sits on its launch pad this week awaiting liftoff Friday at 2043 GMT (4:43 p.m. EDT). Credit: SpaceX Mostly clear skies and brisk westerly winds are forecast at launch time Friday afternoon for SpaceX\u2019s first resupply mission to the International Space Station in nearly a year. There is a 90 percent [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3108,2007,1736,1395,479,717,1602,316],"class_list":["post-15609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-beam","tag-bigelow-aerospace","tag-complex-40","tag-dragon","tag-falcon-9","tag-international-space-station","tag-iss-cargo","tag-spacex"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15609"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15609\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}