Thursday – 2 Shaaban 1444 AH – 23 February 2023 AD Issue Number [16158]
Washington: «Middle East»
The US space agency (NASA) announced, on Tuesday, the postponement of the launch of the “Falcon 9” rocket from “SpaceX”, which was originally scheduled for Sunday, for a period of 24 hours, on a mission to transport 4 astronauts to the International Space Station, according to “AFP”. .
The Americans Stephen Bunn and Warren Hoberg, the Russian Andrei Vidyaev, and the Emirati Sultan Al Neyadi were scheduled to launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sunday at (02:07) (07:07 GMT), but the operation was postponed until next Monday at (01). :45) (06:45 GMT), according to NASA officials.
The four astronauts are scheduled to spend 6 months in orbit aboard the International Space Station. They arrived in Florida on Tuesday to begin final preparations for the mission.
“When you look at the work that remains in front of us, especially on the vehicle side by preparing the (capsule) Dragon and (rocket) Falcon 9 for launch, we are a little late,” Steve Stitch, an official in the manned commercial flight program at NASA, told reporters. We need more time.”
Steve Stitch, following reviewing the readiness of the Falcon 9 rocket and the Dragon spacecraft, indicated the need to address many problems before launch, including conducting additional analyzes of the thermal performance of some outer shell cells in the space capsule.
Agency officials said they expect members of the SpaceX Dragon Crew-6 mission to complete a five-day pick-up and drop-off mission with the four Dragon Crew-5 crew members, who have been completing their mission aboard the International Space Station since October.
At the same time, the Russian Space Agency indicated, on Tuesday, that the return of three astronauts stranded on the International Space Station, due to an unexpected leak, will take place in September, a year following the start of their space mission.
