SpaceX has delayed by one day a planned launch of four astronauts to the International Space Station, initially set for Saturday, Nov. 14, because of weather conditions in Florida.
The launch of the Crew-1 mission has been rescheduled to 4:27 p.m. PST Sunday from Cape Canaveral, in Florida.
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a Twitter post that the delay was prompted by “onshore winds and recovery operations.”
The 45th Space Wing at Cape Canaveral said Friday there was a 70% chance of favorable weather conditions for the Saturday launch. SpaceX, however, has additional weather considerations due to its plans to recover the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket that will propel the astronauts into space. In other words, after launching the rocket and detaching the Crew Dragon capsule, SpaceX will navigate the rocket back to Earth, landing it on a barge — dubbed “Just Read the Instructions” — in the Atlantic Ocean for cost-cutting reuse in future missions.
The Hawthorne aerospace company, therefore, must also factor weather conditions into the rocket’s return flight.
Bridenstine said in his Twitter post that the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket in this weekend’s mission is also scheduled to be used in SpaceX’s next astronaut launch, the so-far-undated Crew-2 mission.
This weekend’s Crew-1 mission was originally set for Halloween, but had to be delayed so SpaceX could make needed upgrades to the Falcon 9 rocket being used for the launch.
In May, SpaceX propelled astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the space station in a Crew Dragon capsule named “Endeavour,” the first manned mission to launch from U.S. soil since the space shuttle program was retired in 2011.
While successful and hailed as a historic rejuvenation of U.S. spaceflight, that mission was technically just a demonstration flight, showing off the capabilities of the Crew Dragon. An earlier flight of a Crew Dragon capsule was unmanned, but it also successfully reached the space station with a belly full of cargo.
Sunday’s launch is considered the first fully operational mission for a Crew Dragon. The capsule being used in the mission, named “Resilience,” is built to accommodate four astronauts instead of the two who flew in the May launch.
The crew will be Mike Hopkins, the mission commander, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialists Shannon Walker and Soichi Noguchi. Hopkins, Glover and Walker are all NASA astronauts. Noguchi is with the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency and called the mission a “new era” of “international cooperation.”
The crew have been traveling to SpaceX facilities for training and testing of the Dragon capsule, Hopkins said. He said he has thoroughly enjoyed the training process at NASA.
“My kids, my wife have said, ‘You don’t go to work anymore do you? It’s like you go and just play all day,”‘ he said.
“And that’s what it feels like when you come here,” Hopkins added. “It’s much more serious than that. It has real consequences, but at the same time, you know, I just absolutely love it.”
Walker said she was thrilled to be part of continuing human operations in space.
“I think it is just tremendously exciting and fascinating to know that kids are growing up today that have always had people living in space,” she said, “and always had the countries working together for science and engineering objectives.”
The crew will take part in a host of microgravity experiments while aboard the International Space Station. The Dragon capsule will carry various scientific hardware and materials for experiments, including a food physiology study to examine the effect of diet on the immune system during space travel and a student-designed “Genes in Space” experiment on how spaceflight affects brain function.
While on the station, the crew will also continue experimenting with growing radishes in space, helping to further understand how changes in gravity and atmosphere affect plant growth — considered key to future extended human travel to the moon and Mars.
The Crew-1 mission is the first of three planned Crew Dragon flights in 2020 and 2021.
November 14, 2020 at 06:34AM
https://www.dailybreeze.com/2020/11/13/spacex-delays-launch-that-will-send-4-astronauts-to-iss-until-sunday-nov-15
SpaceX delays launch that will send 4 astronauts to ISS until Sunday, Nov. 15 - The Daily Breeze
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