SpaceX has delayed its first NASA astronaut launch to 2024 Saturday (March 2) due to ocean weather concerns near the mission's Florida launch pad.
The four-astronaut SpaceX mission, known as Crew-8, will now lift off from Pad 39A at the US space agency's Kennedy Space Center on Saturday at 11:16 pm EST (0416 March 3 GMT) on a Falcon 9 rocket. At Cape Canaveral. This is the latest schedule slip for the launch, which was originally given a February 22 release date.
read more: SpaceX Crew-8 astronaut mission: Live updates
“Joint crews selected an updated launch opportunity due to unfavorable weather forecast for Friday, March 1, in the ocean areas along the Dragon spacecraft's flight path,” NASA wrote in a mission update Feb. 29 after midnight. “Higher winds and waves are expected to continue along the eastern seaboard into Saturday morning.”
If SpaceX's Dragon capsule were to stall mid-flight and suffer an emergency splashdown in the frigid waters of the Atlantic Ocean, unstable sea conditions would pose a safety concern for rescue teams.
“In the event that an abort is not possible during launch or Dragon flight, wind and tidal conditions must remain within acceptable conditions for safe recovery of the crew and spacecraft,” NASA officials wrote in the update.
SpaceX's Crew-8 mission will carry NASA astronauts Matthew Dominique, Michael Barrett, Jeanette Epps and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin to the International Space Station to begin a six-month journey into orbit. The astronauts are scheduled to return to Earth at the end of August.
NASA and SpaceX first launched the Crew-8 mission on Feb. Expected to start on 22nd, but delayed to 28th February, then after midnight on 1st March, Feb. Earlier SpaceX on 18 allowed more time between launches. the pad
Crew-8 will mark SpaceX's ninth crew flight for NASA under a multibillion-dollar contract to fly astronauts to and from the space station. SpaceX has been flying space missions for NASA since May 2020. A second company, Boeing, is expected to launch its own crewed flights for NASA in April using its own Starliner spacecraft.
