The launch of the SpaceX rocket has been postponed to the ISS

Pictured is a replica of the astronaut’s capsule and, in the background, the Vehicle Assembly Building, where the Falcon 9 rocket is in preparation for the launch of the first operational Crew Dragon spacecraft on the International Space Station at Kennedy Space Center, Florida. .

Pat Benic / www.imago-images.de

(afp)

The launch of a manned SpaceX rocket on the International Space Station ISS scheduled for Saturday has been delayed. The start of the mission was postponed to Sunday due to strong winds, as announced Friday by the US space agency NASA.

The rocket launch is now scheduled for Sunday evening (Monday, 01:27 CET) from Kennedy Space Center to the ISS. There will be three NASA astronauts and one Japanese aboard the “Crew Dragon” capsule.

The crew: NASA astronauts Shannon Walker, Victor Glover, Mike Hopkins and JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency).

Joe Skipper / Reuters

Six months after its historic flight on the ISS, Tesla founder Elon Musk’s American company SpaceX wants to send a manned rocket into space for the first time on a routine six-month mission.

In recent years, US astronauts have relied on Russian rockets to reach the ISS. NASA stopped its shuttle program nine years ago due to high costs and after two accidents.

In order to regain independence from Russia, the US government under Donald Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama hired SpaceX and aviation giant Boeing to build space shuttles. Boeing’s “Starliner” capsule is still in testing and, as expected, will not be ready until next year.

For SpaceX, the now planned space flight is therefore also an opportunity to position itself as the US market leader in space travel. In late May, the company successfully sent two US astronauts on a two-month mission to the ISS for the first time.