ORLANDO, Fla., April 4 (UPI) -- Axiom Space announced it would delay its first private astronaut mission to the International Space Station to no earlier than Friday, April 8.
If all goes as planned, a previously-flown Falcon 9 rocket will ferry four private citizens, strapped inside a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, to the space station. Liftoff is scheduled for 11:17 a.m. EDT.
The mission was scheduled for Wednesday, April 8, but a delay with another mission triggered Axiom and NASA officials to go ahead and plan for a Friday morning launch.
NASA's next big moon rocket, the Space Launch System, rolled out to Pad 39B in late March. The agency planned on testing launch day procedures, including fueling, to ensure all the systems were working properly.
That test, originally scheduled for Sunday, April 3rd, was delayed following inclement weather at the launch pad.
Surrounding the orange and white mega launcher is a set of lightning towers that are designed to take the brunt of any potential lighting strikes, preserving the health of the rocket.
Over the weekend, severe thunderstorms rolled into the area and struck the lightning towers surrounding the SLS rocket.
The rocket was unaffected, however, the team had issues with some of the ground equipment on the mobile launch platform the rocket sits atop, and were forced to push back testing until Monday.
Teams are currently working to chill down the core stage ahead of propellant loading. SLS is powered by 700,000 gallons of cryogenic liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen propellant.
Once the team is able to run through fueling procedures, they will detank the vehicle and pour over the data collected. Afterwards, the teams will use the findings to determine if there are issues that need to be addressed before flight.
A launch date is expected to be announced about a week after engineers have had the chance to analyze the data.
If all goes as planned today, that then opens the door for the Axiom-1 mission to fly this Friday.
