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NASA postpones launch of historic SpaceX mission minutes before blastoff citing thunderstorms

Just 16 minutes to go, NASA decided to defer the blast off citing thunderstorms and lightning.

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The launch of NASA and SpaceX's Demo-2 mission to take two veteran astronauts of the former to the International Space Station (ISS) was postponed minutes before it was to go into flight due to bad weather.

Just 16 minutes to go, NASA decided to defer the blast off citing thunderstorms and lightning. The next opportunities to launch are Saturday at 3:22 pm and Sunday at 3 pm Eastern Time.

"We are not going to launch today. Due to the weather conditions, the launch is scrubbing. Our next opportunity will be Saturday, May 30 at 3:22 pm ET. Live #LaunchAmerica coverage will begin at 11 am ET,” tweeted NASA.

The mission was scheduled to be launched on Wednesday afternoon from NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Several people had gathered along Space Coast in Florida to watch the launch.

The historic flight was scheduled to take veteran NASA astronaut Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the ISS on a Falcon 9 rocket developed by SpaceX.

It is the first flight of NASA crew from the US soil since 2011 and the first launch of a rocket developed by a private company.

"There wasn't really a lightning storm, but there was a concern that if we did launch it could trigger lightning," NASA chief Jim Bridenstine said.

"This was an important milestone, just today. We learn a lot every time we do these things," he said on NASA TV. 

Both astronauts had been strapped into their seats for around two hours before NASA decided to call off the historic launch.

"Everybody did great today. It was a great practice, and we`ll do it again on Saturday," Hurley said just before climbing out of the capsule.

US President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence were present at the site to watch the liftoff.

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