CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – For the first time since 2011, NASA is worried about smooth seas. Space Shuttle launch criteria called for clear skies, low winds and calm seas in case astronauts on board needed to make an emergency landing.
Trans-Atlantic Abort, or TAL, sites in Europe had to have good weather, giving astronauts an option to bring down the Shuttle overseas.
And the Atlantic Ocean under the Space Shuttle’s flight path to orbit needed to be mostly calm. If all else failed, astronauts had an option to put the Shuttle in a glide, climb out on a pole and parachute into the water.
In recent years, for SpaceX’s cargo missions to the International Space Station, only weather in the sky was of concern. However, on May 27, with two astronauts