NASA decided at the last minute to delay the liftoff of the Crew-6 crewed mission to the International Space Station (ISS), where the four astronauts plan to spend at least six months carrying out more than 200 science experiments and maintenance missions.
The flight was canceled due to a problem with ground systems, according to NASA and SpaceX, which owns the rocket and the astronaut transport ship. The next attempt will be on March 2nd.
Both the crew and the vehicles – the Falcon 9 rocket and the Dragon Endeavor capsule – are in good condition.
“I am proud of the focus and dedication of the NASA and SpaceX teams in keeping Crew 6 safe,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.
“Human spaceflight is an inherently risky endeavor, and as always, we’ll fly when we’re ready.”
The decision to cancel the flight was made two minutes and thirty seconds before the launch of the Falcon 9, which was scheduled to take off at 1:45 a.m. ET (0645 GMT) from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Town. Canaveral (Florida), to push the Dragon Endeavor capsule with its four astronauts.
They are Americans Stephen Bowen and Warren Hoburg, from NASA, Sultan Al Neyadi, from the UAE Space Agency, and Andrei Fedyaev, from Russia’s Roscosmos.
Even though the first chance for a new launch was tomorrow, at 1:22 AM EDT (6:22 AM GMT), NASA decided to try again on March 2.
NASA reports that unfavorable weather on February 28 means the next launch attempt will be at 12:34 AM (East) March 2 (5:34 GMT), pending resolution of the technical issue, on their website and on their accounts at Twitter.
Liftoff has already been pushed back for the first time from February 26-27 to perform additional thermal analysis of the panels on the outside of the Dragon capsule, as well as review some of the helium canisters on the Falcon 9 rocket.
Once the launch has taken place and the four astronauts have arrived at the space station, they will stay there for about six months.
The crew will conduct new science investigations to prepare for human exploration beyond low Earth orbit.
The experiments will include studies of how certain materials burn in microgravity and of the functions of the heart, brain and cartilage. In addition, the probe will collect bacterial samples from the space station’s vents.
The goal is to see if the International Space Station is releasing microorganisms into space, and if so, how many and how far they can travel.
The results of this experiment could change the design of future space missions and equipment such as space suits to reduce potential pollution.
After liftoff and once in orbit of the International Space Station, the capsule, along with the four astronauts, will perform a series of independent maneuvers to dock with the space station’s Harmony module.
The Mission 68 crew will welcome the four members of Crew-6 aboard the orbiting laboratory and a few days later the members of Crew-5 will begin the journey back to Earth, with a scheduled flight off Florida. beaches.
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