Nasa hopes winds will calm to allow Pluto mission launch

Nasa scientists hope the third time is the charm for its $700m (€578.7m) unmanned mission to Pluto.

The space agency planned to make a third attempt to launch the New Horizons probe from Cape Canaveral, Florida, today, a day after a storm knocked out power at the Maryland-based laboratory that will command the mission.

Strong winds in Laurel, Maryland, knocked out power at the John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and mission managers were wary of launching the spacecraft without back-up power at the facility.

“The air conditioning was off. The flight controllers were sitting there wiping sweat,” said Alan Stern, the mission’s principal investigator.

High winds at the launch pad also kept the spacecraft from lifting off on Tuesday.

Scientists have been working 17 years on the nine-year voyage to Pluto, and they were unfazed by the back-to-back postponements.

“Two or three days doesn’t mean a hill of beans,” Stern said.

The space agency has until mid-February to send the spacecraft on its way.