Due to the delayed return of the Ax-1 mission, the launch of Crew-4, which will take four astronauts for a six-month stay on the International Space Station (ISS), has been postponed once more. The new date will only be set when the Ax-1 mission leaves the ISS, returning to Earth as the first completely private mission, which should have taken place on Tuesday (19), but was not possible due to the bad weather conditions off the coast. from Florida, where the Crew Dragon capsule will land. It is very likely that the return will take place on Thursday (21) or Friday (22).
Preparations for the mission continue
The Crew-4 mission was scheduled to lift off next Saturday morning (23), leaving platform 39A at NASA’s Kenney Space Center, but the guidance now is to wait at least two gaps between the departure of the Ax-1 from the ISS and the arrival of Crew-4, being a security measure adopted by the NASA and SpaceX teams.
Even with the postponement, the crew continues preparations and even posed for photos in their spacesuits. They also participated in the so-called “dry rehearsal”, which simulates operations during an official launch.
Understanding the Crew-4 mission
The Crew-4 mission will take American astronauts Robert Hines and Kjell Lindgren, American astronaut Jessica Watkins (all from NASA) and Italian Samantha Cristoforetti from the European Space Agency (ESA) into space to live and work on the ISS.
Recall that Jessica Watkins, part of the Artemis program which aims to bring us back to the Moon from 2025, will be the first black woman to carry out a long-term mission – she will live and work on the ISS for a minimum of six years, months, possibly extending your stay for up to a year (as NASA did with Mark Vande Hei).
Via: Spaceflightnow
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