SpaceX and NASA complete historic launch successfully

Mother Nature appears to be on SpaceX's side today.

The launch teams just finished the initial "go/no-go" poll, and it's all systems go.

There was questionable weather earlier in the day. But as the launch controllers checked in before fueling the rocket, weather officials said they were in the clear.

SpaceX's John Insprucker said they remain cautiously optimistic that conditions will remain acceptable all the way to launch time.

The chance of a weather scrub is also much better at 30%. Earlier in the day, weather officials had given a 50-50 probability.

"We're optimistic right now. Conditions have been improving."

The astronauts said they are "go" for launch. And all the technical checks went smoothly this afternoon.

The big question is still whether the weather will hold up, and the latest update is expected in just a few minutes.

The NASA and SpaceX teams will have to decide, based on how the whether looks now, whether to move forward with fueling the rocket.

Carol Scott helped NASA assess what went wrong — and heal from — two tragic accidents during the Space Shuttle program.

But these days, she's the manager of the Launch Vehicle Office of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program — and that means she and her team were essential in determining that SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule is ready for this mission and that the unavoidable risks were mitigated.

That's not an easy gig.

SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule is unique: The company handled design and development, though NASA still provides critical safety oversight. Scott's team numbered in the thousands when she worked on the Space Shuttle program. But her team now numbers in the hundreds.

Still, Scott has never been more confident, she said.

For one thing, the Shuttle required astronauts to strap into the giant white spaceplane, which was vertically attached to rocket boosters on the launch pad. But for this mission, the astronauts will sit tight in the Crew Dragon capsule, which sits atop one large rocket.

With the Space Shuttle, "a piece of foam came off and hit the orbiter," causing the catastrophic destruction of the Columbia orbiter in 2003. "But if you have a capsule on top — hey, the only thing that's gonna hit is a raindrop."

A large storm just moved in over Florida's Space Coast, and it doesn't look to be in any hurry to move away.

At about 1:42 pm, launch officials said the weather is currently a no go.

But it is still possible for the sky to clear in time for launch.

A final decision could come about 45 minutes ahead of the 3:22 pm ET liftoff time.

That's when the "Go/no-go" poll officially begins. That means launch controllers in Florida will check in with other groups — including mission controllers at SpaceX's headquarters in California and weather officials at the 45th Space Wing — to make sure everyone is comfortable moving forward.

After making fairly regular appearances during NASA and SpaceX's webcast on Wednesday, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is absent from today's stream.

Reporters haven't seen his entourage around today either.

Though, Musk has been sharing a few tweets about the launch.

Weather was always going to be a toss up today. And it's still more than two hours until liftoff time, but the patchy blue skies were just taken over by storm clouds.

It hasn't made it to the press site quite yet, but film crews say it's already down-pouring at the launch pad.

"The weather is still iffy," launch officials said around 1:15 pm.

On the ride to the launch pad, astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley enjoyed a handpicked playlists. Among the selections: AC/DC's "Back in Black," Brazilian jazz song "Garota de Ipanema" ("The Girl from Ipanema"), and the Army's French horn version of the "Star Spangled Banner."

Stacy Stockwell, a woman from Orlando in her 50s, drove with a group of friends overnight to lock down a viewing spot off the side of a roadway in Cape Canaveral.

She arrived at 3 am and took a nap in her truck.

When asked if she was concerned about Covid-19 risks, Stockwell said, "I am a little bit."

She said Wednesday's launch attempt drew jam-packed crowds to the area, and "people aren't very good at social distancing," she added.

Still, Stockwell didn't want to miss out on the historic moment. They set up shop a bit further inland on Saturday, hoping to avoid some of some of the crowds.