KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla.—SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket threaded through the clouds of a stormy Florida sky just before midday on Aug. 1, as the 11th act of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) commercial crew program set off for the International Space Station.
Strapped on top, inside the Dragon Endeavor capsule, were NASA Astronauts Zena Cardman (mission commander) and Mike Fincke (mission pilot, as well as Russian Cosmonaut Oleg Platonov of Roscosmos and Kimiya Yui of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), both of whom were named mission specialists.
This was the second launch attempt, following one on July 31 that was scrubbed due to weather, with only 67 seconds left on the countdown. Like the first attempt, this launch required an instantaneous launch right on time, but the storm remained clear of the site long enough for the four-person crew to lift off….