Dragon, Falcon can withstand lightning strikes, reveals Elon Musk while advocating safety

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk boasted the capability of its rocket and spacecraft, involved in the ‘historic’ launch with NASA on May 30, to withstand lightning strikes. The mission being scrubbed on its first attempt due to weather conditions on Thursday. According to NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, there was a lot of “electricity in the atmosphere” on May 27 just 17 minutes before the countdown was set to begin at 4:33 pm ET. Now, the crew is still looking at a 50-50 chance of favourable conditions for the mission’s second attempt on May 30 at 3:22 pm ET.

While replying to tweet about an earlier instance where a rocket was launched amid lightening and ad weather, Musk revealed that even Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon capsule are designed in a manner to “withstand multiple lightning strikes”, but it is not advisable to “take this risk”. 

As millions are eagerly waiting to witness the iconic launch from Florida for the first time in nine years, space veterans  Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken have yet again buckled up in the capsule in their SpaceX suits. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine has also put on an optimistic forefront to the mission and said that the enthusiasm regarding the launch still remains the same. He again defended the decision to cancel the mission on May 27 and cited “safety” of the crew as “top priority”. 

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50-50 chance

NASA is looking at a 50 per cent chance of the weather being in a favourable condition on May 30 for the rescheduled NASA-SpaceX Crew Dragon launch. After millions were disappointed with poor atmospheric conditions forcing the historic ‘Launch America’ mission to be aborted on May 27, the chances of the launch being successful on Saturday also remains equally grim. 

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine has said that the weather conditions are expected to remain the same for the next couple of days as well. Therefore, currently, the mission is on the go with a constant tap on the atmosphere. Last time, the mission was cancelled just over 16 minutes before the countdown was set to begin, but the mission crew has said that the enthusiasm has not been diminished with the scrub. NASA chief has said that both US astronauts are also "ready to go".

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