KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — The launch of the next crewed SpaceX mission has a new date and time.
The Crew-3 rocket launch has been moved to no earlier than 9:03 p.m. Wednesday from Kennedy Space Center.
What You Need To Know
- Next available launch date for the SpaceX Crew-3 mission is no earlier than 9:03 p.m. Wednesday
- NASA has announced the Crew-2 mission will return to Earth no earlier than 7:14 a.m. Monday
- NASA officials say they will make a final decision in the coming days
NASA said the reason the launch has been pushed back is because they are preparing to have the Crew-2 mission currently at the International Space Station return to Earth Monday morning.
Inclement weather on Saturday and Sunday had already hampered the Crew-3 launch.
The Crew Dragon spacecraft Endeavour is scheduled to undock from the ISS at 1:05 p.m. Sunday to begin its voyage home.
The spacecraft will "aim for a splashdown at one of seven targeted landing zones in the Atlantic Ocean or Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida," NASA said in a statement on its website.
A backup undocking and splashdown opportunity is available on Monday if weather conditions make the Sunday target untenable.
Members of the Crew-2 mission — NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Aki Hoshide, and European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet — will return with about 530 pounds of hardware and scientific experiments when they splash down after their 199 days in space, NASA said.
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying Crew-3 was supposed to launch on Halloween, but bad weather forced a delay. Then a minor, undisclosed medical issue with one of the crew members led to another delay.