The latest weather forecasts put the probability of a decision to go or not to go at 50/50 - just as it was on Wednesday, when SpaceX and NASA tried to launch the first launch attempt.
"Saturday and Sunday could turn out to have very similar weather conditions to Wednesday," said CNN meteorologist Haley Brink, referring to the delayed launch. "We may be awaiting a decision on playing time this weekend."
The next launch opportunity will be on Saturday at 3:22 p.m. ET, with a backup window of 3:00 p.m. ET Sunday.
Rubbing a launch due to the weather is not uncommon.
"Scrubs are part of flying space flights safely and successfully. During my last mission to @Space_Station, the weather also surprised us!" tweeted Bob Behnken, one of two astronauts who will be on board the SpaceX crew's Dragon capsule.
According to the 45th Space Wing Weather Squadron, the main concern is that rain or even thunderstorms could form near the launch site of NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Brevard County, Florida. The squadron, based near Patrick Air Force Base, provides weather assessments for space center launches. Flight through precipitation, anvils and waves along the flight path should also be monitored according to NASA.
Follow the weather near the launch site with the CNN storm tracker >>>Experts are wary of lightning
Lightning is one of the biggest concerns for the launch scheduled for this weekend.
Pat Hyland, a research associate at the Cooperative Institute for Medium-Scale Weather Studies (CIMMS) at the University of Oklahoma, which supports NOAA's National Severe Storm Laboratory (NSSL), spent several years researching this subject. During his undergraduate and graduate research, which was funded in part by an EPSCoR grant from NASA, he focused on the study of the Electric Field Mill Network (EFM) at the Kennedy Space Center to determine the rate of false alerts and to assist with the NASA Criteria Lightning Launch Commit.
"The motivation for the research was partly due to the fact that studies have shown that more than half of the lightning victims were the result of the first or one of the first cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning strikes in a storm and that a significant number of victims were the result of returning to outdoor activities too soon, before the lightning actually stopped, "said Hyland. "We were looking for potential models in what was going on with the electric field on the surface to hopefully provide advice for lightning danger warning decision situations, like what is happening at the Kennedy Space Center with their launches. "
They also tried to look for patterns in the atmosphere during their rocket-triggered lightning experiments.
"This is yet another reason why, even in the absence of lightning directly around the site, the launches can sometimes be cleaned up as rockets can artificially trigger lightning," said Hyland.
For example, lightning in the area will cancel a flight, just like a cloud with an electric field large enough to produce a lightning triggered by a rocket. This happens when a giant spark of electricity occurs when a large rocket flies through a sufficiently strong atmospheric electric field.
The electric field required to induce lightning triggered by a rocket is much weaker than for natural lightning.
Consult the forecasts of the CNN meteorological team >>>Other dangers could also erase the launch
Forecasters should also monitor the winds and the lower temperature of the launch pad.
Here is a list of all the weather scenarios that will prevent a launch
If there is a sustained wind of 30 mph or more at 162 feet above the launch pad, the mission will be cleaned up.
It's not just the weather at the launch pad site. The weather squadron must also monitor the falling temperature, because if the dragon crew capsule has a problem, it must have a safe location for splashing.
A whole team of meteorologists has been on hand from 45 Wing and SpaceX to determine if the weather will spoil the launch. Like Wednesday, the decision can be made until takeoff.
CNN's Judson Jones contributed to this report.
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