NASA balloon launch cancelled again

  • 27/04/2016
It's the third time winds have forced the cancellation of NASA's balloon in Wanaka (Newshub.)
It's the third time winds have forced the cancellation of NASA's balloon in Wanaka (Newshub.)

NASA's balloon launch in Wanaka has been cancelled again.

It's the third time strong winds have prevented the American space agency from launching the super pressure balloon this month. 

Crews began preparations for the launch around midnight and had brought the payload out to the flight line and laid out the balloon's protective ground cloth. However, strong winds forced them to cancel at around 7:30am.

"It was a complex weather pattern today," NASA Wanaka mission manager Janet Letchworth says. 

"The models were showing conditions would turn favourable by launch time but our real-time measurements on the ground showed otherwise."

NASA will announce later today if the weather looks in favour for a launch attempt tomorrow. The crew has until mid-May to launch the balloon.

Last year NASA launched one of its big balloons from Wanaka that was meant to stay aloft 34km above the earth's surface for 100 days but it leaked and landed near the Queensland and New South Wales border after 32 days.

Newshub.