Space: flight to the ISS from Florida postponed by 24 hours

2024-03-03 04:14:00

Initially scheduled for 11:16 p.m. local time on Saturday (5:16 a.m. BST Sunday) at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the launch had to be rescheduled for 10:53 p.m. local time Sunday (4:53 a.m. HB Monday) due to “strong winds,” SpaceX said.

This flight, organized as part of the usual rotation of the ISS crew, was initially scheduled for February 22, the date on which it was postponed for the first time.

The Dragon capsule which is to carry the crew, placed at the top of the rocket, has already been used for four previous manned missions.

The four passengers this time are members of Crew-8, the eighth regular rotation mission carried out by SpaceX for NASA since 2020.

“It seems almost routine to the untrained eye, that SpaceX sends them up there one following the other,” admitted NASA boss Bill Nelson at a press conference this week.

The American Michael Barratt is the only Crew-8 astronaut to have already visited the International Space Station (ISS).

However, it will be the first space trip for the two other Americans – Matthew Dominick and Jeanette Epps – as well as Russian cosmonaut Alexandre Grebionkin.

NASA and the Russian space agency Roscosmos, which together operate the ISS, have set up an astronaut exchange program, each taking turns transporting a crew member from the other country.

This program was maintained despite the war in Ukraine, and the ISS is now one of the very few subjects of cooperation between Washington and Moscow.

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