SpaceX has postponed the launch of NASA's first astronaut of 2024 to no later than Saturday (March 2) due to marine weather concerns near the mission's launch site in Florida.
SpaceX's four-astronaut mission, called Crew-8, will lift off aboard a Falcon 9 rocket no later than Saturday night at 11:16 p.m. EDT (0416 March 3 GMT) from Kennedy Space Center's Pad 39A. For the US Space Agency. At Cape Canaveral. It is the latest launch timeline slip, which has a launch date set for February 22nd.
Read more: SpaceX Crew-8 astronaut mission: Live updates
“The joint teams chose the upgraded launch opportunity due to forecast unfavorable weather conditions for Friday, March 1 in offshore areas along the Dragon spacecraft’s flight path.” He wrote in the mission update Just after midnight on February 29th. “High winds and waves were observed along the East Coast and are expected to continue until Saturday morning.”
Unstable sea conditions could pose safety concerns for recovery teams if SpaceX's Dragon capsule experiences a launch emergency that forces the capsule to abort mid-flight and fall into the cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean.
“In the unlikely event of a miscarriage during launch or Dragon flight, wind and wave conditions must be within acceptable conditions for safe recovery of the crew and spacecraft,” NASA officials wrote in the update.
SpaceX's Crew-8 mission will launch NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, Janet Epps, and Russian astronaut Alexander Grebenkin to the International Space Station to begin a six-month mission in orbit. The astronauts are scheduled to return to Earth in late August.
NASA and SpaceX had initially hoped to launch the Crew-8 mission on February 22, but delayed the launch to February 28, and then until after midnight on March 1, to allow more time between SpaceX's previous launch on February 18 of the same date. bandage.
Crew-8 will mark SpaceX's ninth crewed flight for NASA under a multibillion-dollar agreement to transport astronauts to and from the space station. SpaceX has been flying astronaut missions for NASA since May 2020. A second company, Boeing, is expected to begin crewed flights for NASA in April using its own Starliner spacecraft.
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