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This story was updated at 7:41 pm EST.
SpaceX’s first four-astronaut launch for NASA will have to wait at least an extra day to take off.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and a Crew Dragon capsule were supposed to launch astronauts on the International Space Station on Saturday (November 14) from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. That mission, called Crew-1, will now be launched no earlier than Sunday at 7:27 PM EST (0027 November 16 GMT) due to weather delays from Tropical Storm Eta that affected SpaceX’s drone ship’s rocket recovery operations. The launch itself had a promising 70% chance of good weather.
“Basically, it was about getting the drone ship there in time,” Benji Reed, SpaceX’s senior director of human spaceflight programs, told reporters at a press conference on Friday. “The weather was so bad due to this tropical storm, we couldn’t get the drone ship to leave in time and get there.”
Real-time updates: SpaceX Crew-1 astronaut launch for NASA
SpaceX uses automated drone ships as floating landing platforms in the Atlantic Ocean to retrieve the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket for later reuse. But good weather is required for these operations. The recovery of the first stage of the Crew-1 mission is critical as the booster will be used on SpaceX’s next astronaut flight for NASA, which is expected to launch on March 30.
“This booster is very important to us,” said Steve Stitch, program manager for NASA’s commercial crew. “We can repurpose the first stage we’re flying on Crew-1 for the Crew-2 mission coming this spring.”
Reed also said SpaceX and NASA currently have no doubts about contact tracing in response to a question about SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s announcement that he has received two positive tests for the coronavirus responsible for COVID-19, in addition to two negative tests.
“I can assure everyone that we are doing well for the launch of Crew-1 and for all the personnel involved,” Reed said.
Update: Due to ground winds and recovery operations, @NASA and @SpaceX are targeting the launch of the Crew-1 mission with astronauts on the @Space_Station at 7:27 PM EST on Sunday November 15th. The first booster stage is expected to be reused to fly astronauts to Crew-2. #LaunchAmericaNovember 13, 2020
SpaceX’s Crew-1 mission will launch NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Mike Hopkins, Shannon Walker, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi on what will be a six-month mission to the International Space Station.
The mission is the first operational flight of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft for NASA and the first four-person flight for the company. (SpaceX’s first manned flight test for NASA in May brought only two astronauts.)
The mission was originally scheduled to launch on October 23, then postponed to October 31. Last month, SpaceX and NASA postponed the flight to mid-November to give time to replace two rocket engines on the mission’s Falcon 9.
Related: SpaceX’s crew-1 astronaut mission pictured
A 24-hour launch delay means a longer trip to the space station for crew-1 astronauts.
If SpaceX had launched the mission on Saturday, crew-1 astronauts would have reached the station early Sunday morning after an 8.5-hour journey due to the station’s location at the time. Due to the one day delay, the Crew-1 mission will now take about three times longer.
“It’s about 27 hours since launch at the dock,” Steve Stitch, NASA’s commercial crew program manager (Nov.10) told reporters at a news conference. “And that’s just because of the way orbital mechanics align.”
That extra time means the Crew-1 astronauts will spend the night in their Crew Dragon, which they called “Resilience”.
“It gives them more opportunities to try Dragon,” Reed said, adding that SpaceX is also eager to see how the capsule performs with a full crew during that time. “I’m pretty sure there are a couple of broadcast events that they’ll be able to deal with this time frame, and you know, checking things out by seeing the Earth go by.”
The weather forecast for a Sunday launch is only slightly less favorable than Saturday, with a 60% chance of good weather, according to a forecast from the US Space Force.
If SpaceX is unable to leave on Sunday, crew-1 astronauts will have to wait another three days, until Wednesday (November 18), to try again. This is due to a few things: First, two cosmonauts currently on the space station will take a spacewalk on Monday, so the station’s current crew of three from Expedition 64 will be busy. A Tuesday launch would actually take longer to reach the station than Sunday’s flight profile, Reed added.
“So the next opportunity would be Wednesday, Thursday and Friday mid-next week,” he said.
SpaceX is one of two commercial companies with multi-billion dollar contracts to fly astronauts to and from the space station on behalf of NASA. The other company, Boeing, will launch astronauts on its Starliner spacecraft using United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rockets.
SpaceX’s first manned launch for NASA took off on May 30. That mission, called Demo-2, lasted two months and ferried two astronauts to and from the station.
You can watch the SpaceX Crew-1 launch for NASA live here on Space.com on Sunday starting at 3:15 PM EST (1915 GMT).
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to include new comments from SpaceX and NASA about the launch delay for the Crew-1 mission.
Email Tariq Malik at [email protected] or follow him @tariqjmalik. Follow us on @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Instagram.
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