SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket was seconds from liftoff Wednesday evening when weather forced controllers to abort the countdown for the CRS-34 resupply mission to the International Space Station. According to multiple reports from journalists covering the launch, the clock had ticked down to roughly 28 seconds before the call came. Anvil-cloud violations near Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral triggered the halt, marking the second time this week that Florida’s weather grounded the flight.
NASA now targets no earlier than 6:05 p.m. EDT on Friday, May 15, for the next launch attempt. The agency has not listed any backup dates beyond Friday, making it the last confirmed window this week to get the loaded Dragon capsule off the ground.
What Dragon is carrying and why it matters
The Dragon spacecraft is packed with roughly 6,500 pounds of cargo, a mix of crew supplies, station hardware, and science experiments. Among the research payloads are bone scaffold materials designed to test how bone tissue regenerates in microgravity, along with equipment for studying red blood cell behavior and spleen function in space. Both lines of research have direct implications for understanding how long-duration spaceflight affects the human body, a priority as NASA plans missions beyond low Earth orbit.
Some of that cargo is time-sensitive. Biological samples and perishable materials have limited shelf lives on the ground, and every additional day the capsule sits on the pad compresses the schedule for integrating experiments into the station’s research operations. The ISS crew has been juggling ongoing science work with preparations for upcoming spacewalks, and a delayed resupply delivery could force adjustments to both timelines.
Why anvil clouds keep grounding Falcon 9
Anvil clouds are the broad, flat-topped formations that spread outward from the tops of towering thunderstorms. They can carry residual electrical charge across wide areas, and launch range safety rules prohibit liftoff when those clouds are present within a defined radius of the pad. Even if skies directly overhead look clear, a distant anvil drifting into the exclusion zone is enough to trigger a violation and stop the clock.
May sits at the front edge of Florida’s wet season, when afternoon convective storms become a near-daily occurrence along the Space Coast. NASA’s decision to skip Thursday entirely and aim for Friday suggests that forecasters saw no meaningful improvement in the short-term outlook and chose to wait for a day with better odds rather than risk a third scrub in a row. It is a familiar tradeoff at Cape Canaveral: accept a longer ground delay in exchange for a higher probability of a clean countdown.
“We are targeting no earlier than Friday, May 15, for the next launch attempt,” NASA’s ISS blog stated in its May 13 update, attributing the delay to “inclement weather” that produced anvil-cloud violations near the pad.
What NASA and SpaceX have and have not said
NASA’s ISS blog published two updates covering the scrub and the rescheduled attempt. Both posts attribute the delay solely to weather and confirm the Friday target, the cargo weight, and the plan to dock Dragon at the Harmony module’s forward port. A separate media advisory lays out the coverage plan and independently confirms the cargo figure.
SpaceX has not released a post-scrub statement about the Falcon 9 or Dragon vehicle. NASA’s updates focus entirely on weather, with no mention of any hardware concerns. The absence of a technical flag from either party suggests the rocket and capsule remain in good shape, but neither organization has issued an explicit all-clear for Friday’s attempt. SpaceX has also not disclosed which Falcon 9 first-stage booster is assigned to CRS-34 or how many flights it has previously completed, nor has the company confirmed whether the booster is slated to land on a drone ship at sea or return to a landing zone at the Cape.
The specific detail that the countdown reached 28 seconds before the abort has appeared in reporting from space journalists who were monitoring the launch feed, though NASA’s own updates describe the scrub in weather terms without citing a precise clock reading. Similarly, characterizing Wednesday’s event as the second weather scrub this week aligns with NASA’s shifting target dates but is not enumerated in a single agency document. Both details are consistent with the available record and widely reported, but readers should note they originate from press accounts rather than official NASA or SpaceX statements.
Who is aboard the station waiting for supplies
NASA’s blog references six crew members currently living and working aboard the ISS, though the agency’s scrub-related posts do not identify them individually by name or expedition number. The crew has been balancing ongoing science operations with preparations for upcoming spacewalks, and a prolonged delay in the CRS-34 delivery could force schedule adjustments on both fronts.
How to watch Friday’s launch from SLC-40
NASA’s live broadcast begins at 5:45 p.m. EDT on Friday, May 15, available on NASA+ and YouTube. The instantaneous launch window opens at 6:05 p.m. EDT. If the Falcon 9 clears the pad, Dragon will separate from the upper stage minutes after liftoff and begin an autonomous approach to the station.
If weather scrubs the attempt again, NASA has not publicly outlined when the next opportunity would fall. No contingency dates for the following week appear on the agency’s events calendar or in any blog post published through May 14. For now, Friday is the last scheduled shot this week to send 6,500 pounds of supplies and science hardware to the crew living and working 250 miles above Earth.
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*This article was researched with the help of AI, with human editors creating the final content.
