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The first launch of four SpaceX astronauts for NASA will have to wait at least an extra day to take off.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and a Crew Dragon capsule were to launch astronauts to the International Space Station on Saturday, November 14 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This mission, called Crew-1, will not be launched earlier than Sunday at 7:27 p.m. EST (0027 Nov 16 GMT) due to unacceptable weather conditions for rocket recovery operations, despite a 70% probability of good launch conditions. .
NASA Chief Jim Bridenstine announced the delay on Twitter, where he cited “offshore winds and salvage operations” as the reason for the delay. These salvage operations refer to SpaceX’s plan to salvage the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket from the Crew-1 mission so that it can be reused in a subsequent mission. To do this, SpaceX will land the booster on a drone in the Atlantic Ocean, then bring it back to land. Good weather is necessary for these operations.
Live Updates: SpaceX Astronaut Crew-1 launches for NASA
Update: Due to land winds and recovery operations, @NASA and @SpaceX are targeting the Crew-1 mission launch with astronauts at @Space_Station at 7:27 PM EST on Sunday, November 15th. reused to pilot astronauts on Crew-2. #LaunchAmericaNovember 13, 2020
“It is planned to reuse the first stage booster to pilot astronauts on Crew-2”, Bridenstine wrote on Twitter. This Crew-2 mission, SpaceX’s next astronaut flight for NASA, is currently targeted for launch on March 30, so ensuring its booster returns to Earth safely.
SpaceX’s Crew-1 mission will launch NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Mike Hopkins, Shannon Walker and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi for what will be a six-month mission to the International Space Station . The mission is SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft’s first operational flight for NASA and the company’s first four-person flight.
The mission was originally scheduled to be launched on October 23, then postponed to October 31. Last month, SpaceX and NASA postponed the flight to mid-November to allow time to replace two rocket motors on the mission’s Falcon 9 booster.
Related: SpaceX’s Crew-1 astronaut mission in photos
A 24-hour launch delay means a longer trip to the space station for Crew-1 astronauts.
Had SpaceX launched the mission on Saturday, the astronauts of Crew 1 would have reached the station early Sunday morning after an 8.5-hour journey due to the location of the station at that time. Due to the one day delay, the Crew-1 mission will now take approximately three times as long.
“It takes about 27 hours from launch to the dock,” Steve Stitch, NASA’s commercial program manager, told reporters Tuesday (November 10) at a press briefing. “And that’s just because of the way the orbital mechanics align.”
The weather forecast for a launch on Sunday is barely less favorable than on Saturday, with a 60 percent chance of good weather, according to a US Space Force forecast.
SpaceX is one of two trading companies with multi-billion dollar contracts to fly astronauts to and from the NASA space station. The other company, Boeing, will launch astronauts on its own Starliner spacecraft using United Launch Alliance Atlas V rockets.
SpaceX’s first crewed launch for NASA took off on May 30. This mission, called Demo-2, lasted two months and transported two astronauts to and from the station.
You can watch the SpaceX Crew-1 launch for NASA live here on Space.com Sunday at 3:15 p.m. EST (7:15 p.m. GMT).
Email Tariq Malik at [email protected] or follow him @tariqjmalik. Follow us on @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Instagram.
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