NASA officials confirmed that SpaceX’s third commercial astronaut launch mission for the agency, Crew-3, was postponed to November 6, US Eastern Time due to a sudden illness of an astronaut.
Moreover, the crew of Crew-3 was originally scheduled to launch from the Kennedy Space Center in the early morning of November 3rd, Eastern Time. Now, the mission may launch as early as 11:36 pm on November 6. NASA officials said in the latest statement: “This is not an emergency medical incident, nor is it related to the new coronary pneumonia infection”.
Crew-3 will combine NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Kayla Barron, and Thomas Marshburn, and ESA astronaut Matthias・Maurer sent to the International Space Station, where they will stay for 6 months. The four astronauts will take the SpaceX Crew Dragon to the International Space Station, and the capsule will be launched by the Falcon 9 rocket.
Stay tuned with us via Telegram
NASA did not confirm which astronaut had a medical problem, nor did it give specific details. NASA officials said that the Crew-3 crew is still under quarantine at the Kennedy Space Center as part of the normal pre-launch routine. NASA officials confirmed that the Crew Dragon spacecraft and the Falcon 9 rocket are in good condition and will remain on standby at the Kennedy Space Center launch pad 39A.
As the name suggests, Crew-3 is the third commercial astronaut transport mission performed by SpaceX for NASA. The second mission, Crew-2, was launched in April. The crew is currently on the International Space Station, but they will soon return to Earth.
NASA is still evaluating the return date of the Crew-2 crew. Its members include NASA astronauts Shane Kimbough and Megan McArthur, and European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide.
Crew-3 was originally scheduled to be launched on October 31 in the United States. However, due to the expected bad weather during the rocket flight, NASA and SpaceX decided to abandon this attempt and postpone the launch time to the 3rd at the earliest, and now it is postponed to the 6th.
