NASA Delays SpaceX Crew-3 Mission to November 3 Due to Weather Conditions

NASA delays SpaceX Crew-3 launch from early on Halloween until 1:10 a.m. ET on November 3. The launch will be broadcast live on NASA's channel beginning at 8:45 p.m. ET on November 2.

NASA astronauts Raja Chari (the mission commander), Tom Marshburn, and Kayla Barron will join ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer on the International Space Station as part of Crew-3.

According to SciTechDaily, Crew-3 astronauts are about to go on a long-duration scientific mission onboard the orbiting laboratory, where they will live and work as part of a seven-person crew.

NASA, SpaceX Move Crew-3 Launch

NASA and SpaceX initially scheduled the launch of Crew-3 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) on October 31. But they moved the mission to November 3.

Weather conditions near NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where Falcon 9 will launch, are believed to be good for a successful launch.

(Photo : CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images)
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Inspiration4 crew launches from Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida on September 15, 2021. - The Inspiration4 mission, the first to send an all-civilian crew to orbit, will venture deeper into space than the International Space Station.

Will Ulrich, a launch weather officer with the Space Force's 45th Space Wing at Cape Canaveral, Fla., said in a Washington Post report, it's not simply what occurs on the launchpad.

NASA said the delay is due to "a huge storm system meandering over the Ohio Valley and across the northeastern United States this weekend, raising winds and waves in the Atlantic Ocean along the Crew Dragon flight path for the October 31 launch attempt."

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Officials also keep an eye on weather conditions along the path Falcon 9 uses to reach space, which runs north along the East Coast and is known as the ascension corridor. If Crew Dragon's emergency abort mechanism is activated to save the astronauts from a malfunction with the rocket after launch, the capsule must land in favorable weather somewhere in that corridor.

Space.com said the Crew-3 mission will still launch from Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Crew-3 mission will launch on November 3 and arrive at the ISS at 11 p.m. on the same day.

Crew-3 To Stay In ISS For 6 Months

Crew-3 will spend a little over a day in orbit before docking with the International Space Station, The Verge said. The Crew Dragon is meant to dock with the ISS automatically, although humans can intervene if required.

There will be a change of guard when Crew-3 arrives. The four Crew-2 astronauts who are currently onboard the space station will welcome the newcomers and assist them in settling in. The Crew-2 members will then board their own Crew Dragon and return to Earth in mid-November.

Crew-2 Astronauts to Return Soon

NASA also provided an update on the four Crew-2 mission astronauts who are now stationed on the International Space Station.

The four astronauts on the Crew-2 mission are scheduled to return to Earth in the early part of November, according to the release. In April of this year, the Crew-2 mission was launched.

NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide are all members of the Crew-2 mission.

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Check out more news and information on SpaceX in Science Times.