Elon Musk’s SpaceX announced Thursday evening that its joint mission with the US space agency NASA to send four astronauts from four different countries and space agencies to the International Space Station (ISS) has been unexpectedly postponed. Done, JEE News reported.
NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida was announced as the launch site for the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft carrying astronauts aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 3:50 a.m. ET Friday.
The reason for the sudden change, which SpaceX announced late Thursday via X, formerly Twitter, remains unknown.
The space agency was moving the liftoff timing to 3:27 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 26, according to SpaceX’s post on X, because it “gives teams additional time to complete analysis and discuss.”
“The vehicles are still in good condition, and the crew is ready to fly,” the ad said.
According to SpaceX’s post on X, the space agency was delaying the liftoff time until 3:27 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 26 because it “gives teams additional time to complete analysis and discuss.”
“The vehicles remain healthy and the crew is ready to fly,” the post read.
SpaceX and NASA are now targeting no earlier than Saturday, August 26 for Falcon 9 to launch Dragon to the @space_station. The new launch date provides teams additional time to complete and discuss analysis. The vehicles remain healthy and crew is ready to fly →… pic.twitter.com/ojWTwRTS8v
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 25, 2023
NASA spokesman Rob Navias said during a live stream: “Mission managers met and chose to delay the Crew 7 crew for 24 hours to allow a little more time to close out some open paperwork. “
According to the latest forecasts from the U.S. Space Force, which manages rocket launches, there is a 95 percent chance the weather will cooperate for liftoff on Saturday.
The four astronauts aboard the mission, known as Crew 7, include NASA’s Jasmine Moghabelli, who will be the mission commander. Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen representing the European Space Agency; Satoshi Furukawa of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA; and Russian cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov of Roscosmos.
NASA and SpaceX are set to send their eighth commercial crewed mission to the ISS. The Crew-7 astronauts will join the seven already in orbit at the laboratory, taking over operations from SpaceX Crew-6 astronauts.
The mission will last five days, marking the eighth flight operated by the agency as part of the commercial crew program that has been in operation since SpaceX’s first crewed mission in 2020. .
The crew will spend about five days taking over operations from the SpaceX Crew-6 astronauts.
